Photography Exibit, $20 Poem by Benjamin Feliciano

I hate the way we glamorize war.
The ashes are still burning from a thousand fires
Yet all we do is take pictures, write poems, and donate to tax-deductible charities.
Where are your sons and daughters?
Spending money they don't have on higher education
(Expensive mental masturbation) ?
Enlisting in our oil feuds from a sense of duty
(Or lack of meaning) ?
I don't know what I'm trying to suggest,
Because what have I done to fix it?
I keep reliving the conversation I had with Austin before he went to basic;
Why was he going?
He said he had nothing else in his life,
And that scared me more than anything.
People once believed in causes here,
But why are we still fighting if it is only because 9-5 and television isn't enough to satiate our wandering?
I'm afraid of what that means,
If all our leaders need to find toys for their game is to give us a reason for being,
Then why don't we look for meaning somewhere else?
I just cannot understand.