[Lawrence]
It must be feminine predisposition
for maternal considerations
to nurture while masculinity
is predisposed to defend
and protect with certainty
of success.
It’s best to understand and comprehend
that the grand scheme of the world
is competition and not cooperation.
Cooperation is useful only as it exists
to assist competitive endeavors.
[Cole]
Lawrence’s world view
is skewed toward the past
with his steadfast belief
that the future will never surpass
the knowledge amassed in the years since
the world was flat and that
Earth is the center of the universe.
But of course human understanding
has made advances that take us forward
toward a new level of consciousness
that defies old notions with large portions
of scientific data of cosmic events
that reorient our world view
toward future evolution
of better solutions to situations
regarding poverty and arcane religious
beliefs and teachings to alleviate anxious souls
fearful of divine retribution
or evil spirits’ seductive temptation
that leads to eternal damnation
if the seduction is successful
in its application.
Tragedy in life
is Earthly consequences
from poor human choice.
[Mr. Swanson]
We have heard from some
but I need to hear from everyone
considering what has been presented.
Your views will be represented
through the exercising of your choice
by selecting the voice spoken, grouped accordingly.
[Marlo]
“. . . grouped accordingly”
was specifically shown
on Swanson’s whiteboard
as he spoke and wrote his words
so his students could record
their best appraisal
of what they surmised as true
to what each valued.
[Mr. Swanson]
Don’t forget to sign
on the bottom line
to own your choice
giving weight to your voice
and place your card in the drop box
ushering in the epoch of your voting history.
Have a good lunch.
[ Marlo]
The school’s auditorium
housed the performing arts stage
and engaged the play,
“Bedlam At Lunch,” every day
doing four showings
since the stage and the kitchen,
on opposite walls, beckoned
different large crowds
of loud, emancipated,
jovial students
intent on socializing
comprising a friendly din.
[Sarah]
Hi, it’s Diane, right?
[Diane]
Correct, and this bright
smiling lady is my friend,
Yolanda who hails
from Canada’s southern coast
that hosts quaint, nestled harbors.
[Sarah]
Oh, are you transferring in?
[Yolanda]
Been here for three years,
and I’m home schooled with my peers
and I’m here to see
how public school differs from
our rubric of daily
chores and linked studies
that constitute the contours
of my home schooling.
We have small group discussions
with varied adult mentors
whose core functioning
is to underscore the link
that will sync learning
with the hard working efforts
that controvert laziness
and narcissistic
individualism.
Book learning must be
clearly and directly tied
to community action
seeking to enhance
health, harmony and true trust
to advance all souls.
[Sarah]
Hey Cole, we’re over here.
You disappeared after class.
I wanted to beat the mass migration
to the lunchroom
to quickly consume my food
without being too rude.
Meet Yolanda, from Canada, and Diane.
And this is Cole and Chuck.
[Cole]
It’s our very good luck
to make your acquaintance.
A bit tense in class today.
You’ll need some grit and brass
to last with the likes of some
who succumb to mean aggressiveness.
[Chuck]
And not so easy to harass, I think.
[Sarah]
Let’s go sit in the courtyard.
We can play our independent studies’ card.
[Cole]
I owe Chuck a lunch.
Let’s get a sandwich and a coke.
[Chuck]
Good deal ’cause I’m broke.
[Marlo]
Cole bought two brown bag lunches.
Chuck snagged a shaded table
in the bonnie green,
open-aired, squared, internal
courtyard ample for
a mini group to aptly
exchange remarks to explain,
softly, their private
thoughts that spark the warmth to start
new relationships.
Seniors are granted free time
to explore more personal
core concerns that burn
hotly consequential to
their central selfhood.
Scheduled requirements, meant
most pertinent to teachers
bent to reach daily
every predetermined goal,
are designed to go
forward for future learning.
Yet the yearning of young souls
scrutinizing roles
of elders who abide by
status quo reasons
want to seek sustainable
practices of enlightened
new philosophies
formed from deeper reflections
and new perceptions.
[Sarah]
I want to hear more about your project
to inspect Diane’s school.
You’ve fueled my interest
to invest time to experience
your reliance upon your educators.
[Diane]
Yolanda and I
belong to a close knit group
of some families
and individuals pleased
to share a philosophy
that informs our
behavior to better serve
everyone of us
without much internal fuss
or boisterous arguments
about what to do
to avoid benefiting
only a few souls
at the great expense of most.
We believe the complete host
of us can excel
if each understands quite well
and freely decides
to abide by principles
channeled through three simple coins.
[Yolanda]
This one is Joe’s Honor Coin.
It was minted first, then joined
by these other two.
The Decision-Making Coin
will cover one’s choice
through chance’s random flipping
or deliberate turning
to the chosen side.
Two Sides of the Same Coin shows
Freedom conjoined to
Responsibility’s cue
that freedom does not exist
without self control
to reign in desire for
nefarious acts
to extract from your small world
whatever your lust and greed
needs to feel to fill
the hollowness of your soul’s
lack to love others.
[Cole]
I wish to represent,
with your consent,
that wonder is present
with the revelation of a token
of my intense interest
wanting satisfaction
to know all about the coincidence
that my coin is identical to yours.
Sarah has one as well.
[Diane]
Outstandingly impressive!
More so since a directive
says Joe’s Honor Coin
must be received from someone
who freely agrees
to be relieved of their coin
because the other perceives
the sensibleness,
completeness and correctness
employed in the coin.
[Yolanda]
When, where and how did you get
to enjoy this ownership?
[Cole]
My friend Charles Dennis
consented to trail-guide
an excursion to explore
a presentation that culminated
in gifts being received
from other friendly hands
that demanded nothing but
allegiance to the concepts reviewed.
[Yolanda]
You went to a gathering
explaining Joe’s Honor Coin.
[Sarah]
Quite right.
You’re bright.
How’d you know?
[Yolanda]
It would delight me
to be seen by you as smart
but my worried heart
knows I must thwart deception.
It’s a simple choice to make.
Either one person
awarded each a coin or
you were afforded
a chance to enhance your life
with harmony’s advancement.
[Diane]
Our parents gained
the same enlightenment years
before I was born
and all three coins were well worn
when I began my public
school education
in grade eight to test my fate
in the great unknown
of the wild, wide world whirling
in energetic chaos
of opposing views,
competing strong opinions,
and keen predators
seeking low esteemed, weak prey
to control and then betray.
However, clever
souls tethered together found
sound means to be free
to form an informed structure
in which all conjure better,
fortified styles
of cooperative lives
that thrive peacefully.
[Yolanda]
A man named Johnathan came
to retain the services
of our farmer
from whom we regularly
obtained vegetables,
beef and poultry pleasingly
purchased during family
excursions brimming
with anticipation’s zeal
to the countryside’s
appeal to city-dwellers
tired of cement and steel.
On one such outing
Farmer Ted spoke at some length
concerning a coin
shown by Johnathan to fend
against oligarchical
efforts to erode
our democratic code
formed by the people
for each person’s advancement
to circumvent personal
anguish that persists
from the great divide’s bullish
efforts that resist
equitable dispersement
of money needed for goods
and services meant
to assist the efficient
movement of commerce.
Currency, an invention
of human thought brought about
the narcissists’ tool
to rule over the great mass
of humanity
through the power of greed’s creed
to succeed above others,
binds what the market
will bare, and swears devoutly
that talent and strong
individualism
will save all humanity.
But, the wide schism
of the haves and the have-nots
rots the woven, tight,
vital, communal fabric
that advanced technology
but ushered havoc
to truncate spiritual
expansion of souls
kept cold from the touch of gold
at the expense of love’s warmth.
My father conversed
with mother and neither would
falter from the course
that they would firmly endorse
and enforce their free-will choice
by relocating,
forsaking the foundation
which we laid upon
Canada’s fertile soil,
for the communal toil
of Johnathan’s group
full of possibilities
to seize Life’s beauties.
[Cole]
I would very much like to
encounter a few more folks
who could explain more
of the history that tore
you away from home.
[Sarah]
And I would very much like
to strike a deal and to seal
an agreement to
collaborate together
to gather data
to compare and contrast life
in public school to your lot
to plot a path taught
by community members
who answer to truth
etched in the reality
of naturally exposed,
tough problems for sleuths,
in training, to formulate
their best explaining
of future solutions for
resolutions preventing
the need for further
expenditure of thinking
for shrinking the threat.
[Diane]
I’ll run it by Johnathan
to see if we can arrange
a change in his plans
to expand your consciousness
to address styles
of cooperatively
living without competing.
It will be as if
you are one of us to crush
your designated
chores for communal board and
bunkhouse accommodations.
We will need to miss
two fine days of egotists
and our classes.