We See, We Hear, We Act, We Condemn

Here, it is a cold, crisp day.
The sky is wide and blue,
the sun blazing bright;
snow has softly billowed the
landscape and we find
comfort in our warm homes,
planning our evening menus,
listening to delightful music,
secure in our valued
creature comforts.

Abroad, a world away, yet
as close as our radios, TVs
and computers, social and political
upheavals threaten nations'
already tenuous stability and
imperil the lives of thousands
of people, oppressed by their
domineeringly human-rights-abusing
leaders as government troops take all
needfully forceful action to
repress dissent and revolt.

The alternatives to these
rapacious, well-entrenched leaders
and their well-rewarded supporters
of huge concern to us for
everything in the world we
inhabit is now intertwined
with global trade, communication,
travel, finances and human migration.

As fearful refugees desperately
stream away from conflict zones,
hauling pathetically few personal
resources, we are afflicted with
conscience, yet fear absorbing
them into our indigenous
populations, their alien cultures'
values rudely impacting
upon our heritage and well-being.

And the dire straits, threats and
denials of human dignity that send
the targeted elsewhere for refuge also
spread the virus of suspicion
and resentment that our hallowed
way of life and our institutions
become threatened. As they are,
by the agents of dread ideologies
posing existential threats
to Western normalcy.

And we, observing the conflict
and the abysmal abuses abroad,
condemn them. We do indeed accept
that some measure of safe haven be
proffered and we make sacrifices
to that end. We do not, however,
and shall not, sacrifice our morals,
values and principles to the dark forces
of a perverted ideology's universal
thrust to achieve bloody conquest.