Before I'Ll Be A Slave, I'Ll Be Buried In My Grave Poem by Jan Freundschuh

Oo-oh Freedom......Oo-oh Freedom.........

I'm all for freedom!
Freedom of the brain!
Freedom to think a new thought in there -
Not the pre-programmed thought.....

Freedom such as:
.....I'm a life long Republican, but
.....Some Democrats must have been listening to
.....The Preacher last Sunday....
.....When he said that part about
.....What you do for the least of these
.....You have done unto Me!
.....Taking Jesus' words seriously......
.....Hmmmmm.......

Freedom such as:
.....I'm a progressive Democrat
.....But some on the other side,
.....May have a fear, a well taken fear,
.....That human nature is not well understood,
.....And that tinkering too much,
.....Too fast, might cause some terrible
.....Unintended consequences.....
.....Worse than the situation at hand
.....At the moment......
.....Hmmmmm.......

Then, you put these new thoughts next to
Your very well worn thought track,

Such as:
.....Dems just want to redistribute wealth.
.....Cause they hate freedom and want to go down
.....The path that leads straight to iron-fisted
.....Communism -the damn Russkies......

Such as:
.....Those right-wing crazies, clinging to their
.....Guns and God....They just want to
.....Stop all progress; progress that leads straight to
.....A Utopia where everyone is kind, generous and
.....Fair as fair can be. They are obstructionists
.....And we should just run over them.

Then, with those TWO possible, differing views
Towards those you traditionally oppose...in mind

Then, you'll be free, to choose
Either fork in the road.
Your brain will learn to drive a car, a bicycle,
And choose your own route.
You'll be off the damn Trolley of thought!



Would that we could take an anti-inflammatory
Pill, and calm down inflammation,
Deep in the amygdala,
Where fear of 'the Other'
Has its own real estate!

It's in there, People! , this xenophobia,
And it's badly inflamed.
How do I know?

Well, how comfortable are you
Listening to those you oppose
On tv?

Can you feel it?
Can you feel it in your brain?

Republicans, turn on MSNBC.
You'll feel it.
Democrats, turn on Fox News
I guarantee you'll feel it
In just a few seconds.



You are slaves, my friends,
One and all.

Damn, damn Trolley brain.

Give me freedom, or give me death!
Let me out of this hearse
Heading towards the graveyard
Of newborn, individual thought.

Trolley thought is not
The way I want to roll.

Still not convinced?
Put some 'the Bible told me so' Christians
In a room with some
Secular Humanist Atheists.

Listen hard for a NEW thought,
A non-rehearsed thought,
A never before considered viewpoint.....
An, 'I never thought of that',
'That's an interesting slant'
'I wonder, could these both be true...
On some level.....'
'Hmmmmmm'
'Hmmmmmmmmmm'......
You'll never hear it.


Oo-oh Freedom......Oo-oh Freedom.........
Before I'll be a slave to habitual thinking.....
I'll be buried in my gra-ave
Go home, to my Lord,
And be free.