The Truest Feeling

Pain is the truest feeling, I think.           

Gladness is a whore.  Nice enough to have,       

So quick to leave once your means are gone.  Blink,  

And so is she.  Anger is but a slave                                             

To Desire, summoned when fickle whims                     

Aren’t met.  Regret is just a side effect               

Of Pain, a band of hope, however slim,  

That we could somehow travel back, and check

Ourselves before we made that one mistake.    

For Love is the prerequisite.  And for     

Our foolishness we suffer Pain and ache,

Freely traded for that which we adore.  

Pain is a feeling all deserve to share;

            A sign that what was, was worthy of care.

                                         ~ ~ ~

   I was initially hesitant about posting this piece.  However, largely positive feedback from my immediate peer group has revised my opinion.  So, here it is.

An Open and Sent Letter to Lawrence Romo, Director of the S.S.

Tuesday, February the 18th, 2014

Lawrence Romo, or more likely one of the lesser minions of the S.S.,

            My sincerest acknowledgements for your cold, machine-typed dogma.  You've done an admirable job of bullying me into signing my life away.  But before I do, I'd like to list a few points of contention that I have with this system of conscription.  As you may recall, there's a bit of a precedent for this sort of thing in this country, so without further exposition, and in no particular order, here they are:

1.  My gods, the sexism!  It's not enough that you're looming over the lives of all the young males in America, so you feel the need to subvert the females as well?  Tell me, how does my possession or lack of a vagina make me any more or less qualified to be shot at in the name of freedom?  If you're going to maintain this system, at the very least make it an equal opportunity for death affair.

2.  Your records identify me as a man.  Well, your records are wrong.  I am not a man, nor are any of the other people you've sent your threats to.  At best, we are adolescents.  Young lads making our first real attempts at life beyond the homes we've always known.  Planning for college, work, success, and the future.  And you're here to take all of that away the moment your supply of willing recruits runs dry.

3.  The draft, by necessity, calls upon those who are unwilling to fight a war to do just that.  Perhaps my understanding of the U.S. government is incomplete, but I've been made to believe that it exists to serve its citizens, and not the other way around.  If that citizenry is unwilling to fight a war, would that not be a sign, then, that the citizens would prefer a more peaceful resolution to the conflict?

4.  Is it a crime to want to live?  Am I a treasonous malefactor because I've tried to avoid situations that could result in my untimely demise?  Because I don't value defending America's brand of freedom above defending myself?  If so, perhaps I need to reconsider my opinion of This Greatest Nation on Earth.

            Please make note of my dissension.  That said, you've won my enrollment into the people's army.  Not by appealing to my morals, but by subverting them.  You see, like most people, I am not a stalwart for change, I prefer the path of least resistance.  At the moment, it is more convenient for me to beat down my sense of what is morally right and sign your bloody contract than it is for me to emigrate to Canada,  pay you off with a small fortune, or spend years in one of your lovely prisons amidst murders, rapists, and moral activists.  Congratulations.  Now please don't bother me again, unless it is to negotiate the terms of my release from your service, or else to tell me that it's my turn to die.

Cold regards,

Ryan Lemay