Realizations Poem by Raymond Farrell

When a person realizes
That we are all by nature
Selfish to varying degrees
The world instantly makes sense
This realization does not make us
Happy, hopeful, or positive in any way
But it does make one wiser
A pearl of wisdom tempered by understanding
How little the so-called average person
Can do to change things
It takes nearly a lifetime
To get over the conditioning and propagandizing
We have been subjected to within our culture
Then there is so little time left
To act in a clear-headed manner
Attempting to do something productive
And the ravages of age and life experiences
Have left most of us timid
This causes most of us to use
The few years left
To pursue simple pleasures like gardening
And ignore what is going on in the wider world
Lest we go mad before we die
And are no more.