One Of Life’s Great Ironies – At Least For Me

Youth spent in a
Strict authoritarian home
Dad was king of his castle
Without a crown

Mom was authoritarian, too
Of the religious
Southern Baptist hue
Corporal punishment, the go-to

As I matured and opened my mind
Dad blamed the schools for my
Growing humanistic views
Though my organizing thoughts
Came straight from the family bookshelf

From Plato, Aurelius, and Khayyam
Not to mention Dickens and Kant

The more aware I became
The more I despised the
Authoritarian mainframe
That society progressively
Made the ‘norm’

During the Vietnam war
He used to call my peace sign
Footprint of a chicken
They hated my beard
My hair, my ‘hippie clothes’

Another part of the big irony

When I was much older
And he was bent and frail
Unlike his younger self and
Mom had already
Returned to the Void

He told me that he was glad
That I’d turned out to be
Such an open minded man
For I wouldn’t judge him for his
Priorities, his ‘might makes right’
Mindset, Libertarian conservative insanity
Or his philandering ways
Even though he always judged me
And not benevolently

But I can’t judge
Not having walked in his shoes
And I, like everyone else
Have my own failings
So I try to view it all with
Compassion and empathy

My only judgments are against
The evil in our society
The vilifying of the poorest
And weakest among us
Wrought by the deep corruption
Of the wealthiest and most powerful entities
The owner and ruling classes
And their hoarding greed

Since there’s really more than enough
To go around
For the health and happiness
Of us all

Irony of ironies

–LE – 7/19/25