What Can I Do? Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

What can I do?
Besides stand on the sidelines,
To criticize
Things done by others...
With the convenience to disapprove.
And choosing to voice my druthers.

What can I do?
To improve the quality of life.
I'm not the only one sometimes embittered...
Or feel my life has more share of strife.

Have I ever set aside my own selfishness,
To protest against my own wastelessness?
Have I ever gone out of my way,
To listen and empathize with others along the way?
Have I sacrificed my own feeding of greed...
To come to the aid of another who has more need?
Instead of proceeding to mask my own insecurities.

What can I do?
What can I say?
Perhaps today I will make an attempt,
To see myself extremely fortunate!
And do something I have not often done.
Approach someone else to offer my assistance.
And ask, 'What can I do?
If you and I got together...
Maybe you and I can help others too!

Afterall,
Isn't it much easier to try to understand...
Than to stay frustrated,
By making self centered demands!

And who is really listening to that...
When common ground is where we all seem to stand! '

What can I do?
To have us accept each other,
With nothing more than that to prove.
Let's try something new.