System Overload 2.0

Control Alt Delete
by Larry Knight

The world,
malcontent,
spinning on an axis,
inhabited by humans
conjuring wisdom,
seeking ideological sustenance
within life,
a conflict between haves and have-nots;

Subscribing to want,
acquiring material goods,
haves sit on the threshold of power,
siphoning gladness from misery,
relishing in the exclusivity of their post.

Thriving amidst chaos,
have-nots learn bleakness,
choke in tearful lamentation,
stand steadfast,
survive without relenting.

They clash in conflict,
with their philosophy of necessity,
justifying it in their actions,
living in the same world,
looking for the same ardent fervor
that sends them towards bliss-
their interpretation of success,
their vision of need as a conduit
leading to a declaration of intent,
a decision which yields an action,
resulting in one being left empty-handed.

The haves subjugate,
improve their status,
fatten their coffers,
achieve political powers
so that the will of free men
can be crushed in a blind act of patriotism;
use computers to cross-check files,
cross-reference names,
build a database of intel,
keep an eye on the enemy,
forge a digital war against a featureless face,
while children, looking to blue skies
growing dim with the prospect of hopelessness,
inundated by scare campaigns
discouraging smoking, sex, and obesity,
forge their own war upon an enemy-
their peers,
their teachers,
their community,
the establishment
responsible for their repression;
children face problems
not theirs to solely claim,
parents who acquiesce to their
child's every whim are responsible,
the village turning its back is responsible;

a whole generation of haves and have-nots
are being affected by an apathetic view
of the world around them,
and parents relinquish parental duties
to a 200 satellite channel omnibus
broadcasting from seven continents
providing a constantly switched on window to the world,
seeking us for its prey,
becoming a technological Venus fly trap
to fulfill its animalistic desire
to feed,
luring us with images of wealth,
making us believe in its splendor,
implanting us with base ideologies,
all the while, teaching us that to have
is ultimately better than to have not,
forcing us to except the realization,
despite what we may feel,
that life is the conflict
between the haves and the have-nots
and that the only true dilemma that we face
is figuring out to which side we belong.

Copyright 2004 Larry J. Knight, Jr.