Run To The Mirror Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Are you like the other ones,
Who love to complain...
About what others do,
To have some folks hear you say...
Nothing gets done
With negative comments,
From your mouth that often comes?
Run to the mirror.

Do you criticize those 'things',
People choose to do...
With a hope to bring enlightenment to others,
To do this to inspire...
And not be confronted by attitudes.
Or those refusing support to give...
Because they are motivated with initiative?
Run to the mirror.

Is the neighborhood where you live,
Less desirable a place as you would like?
Does it appear to be neglected?
And overrun by conflicts, gangs and their fights?
Do awaken from sleep to hear gun shots and screams?
Or have you learned to ignore 'that'...
With a choosing instead to seek someone to demean?
Run to the mirror.

And in the mirror do you see,
Someone who has done 'their' thing effectively?
In the mirror can you identify,
Anyone you recognize that has often despised...
The doing of others and their efforts to get things done.
In the mirror can you admit,
What has not been successful you were distant from it.
And if you can not see this you need to step away.
Because anyone looking in the mirror sees that,
Which should reflect...
Someone that can be honest enough,
To quit making excuses to blame somone else.