Shape-Shifting

The human animal has many attributes
some of which are integrated toward
the goal ofsurvival, the first imperative that
nature bestows upon her creatures.
There is the kind of drive and tenacity
that helped concentration camp inmates
to adapt to their misfortune with the
hope that rescue would eventually arrive.
There is the intent of curiosity and its
sister, exploration that drove restless
souls to the farthest ends of the Earth
to discover that there were no limitations
to aspiration. There were the minds so
heavily wedded to science their very
thoughts were capable of exploring the
universe and the impacts on human
health of the unseen creatures devised
by nature to ensure humankind could
never rest on the assurance of existence
in a hostile world. And then there are
those who among the populace consider
themselves the natural arbiters of all that
concerns civilization, assuming positions
of authority both autocratic and democratic
who may have been endowed with their
fair share of principles and intelligence
but choose in the interests of political 
power to shelve unneeded albatrosses
in the greater interests of shifting gears
as and when required to be all things to
all people and in the process failing all.