"Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving -
It does not matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come,
Even if you have broken your vow a thousand times.
Come, yet again, come."
-Rumi

Lover of Leaving.
I wonder where that comes from.
Abandoning ideas,
or the idea of abandoning people.

It's so hard to tell
What I believe-
Because I'm smart, and educated, right?
And what I was just desperate to believe-
Because when you want a quick fix bad enough, isn't the shortcut subconscious?
How can you tell
What they believed-
Because they wore swastikas, and killed millions of innocents, you know?
And what they were just desperate to believe-
Because when you're ruled by destitution and terror, isn't the conformity subconscious?

"Oh, they aren't listening to the words.
They just like the beat."

I don't know why you aren't listening to me,
when I tell you that they do.
There's no way they can't.

I don't know how you continue to turn a blind eye,
while your nine year olds mouth the words "*******"
as they jump around on the dance floor.

You doing nothing
is doing serious damage.

They will grow up believing that if the words
that turn women into objects were so wrong,
Mom would have stopped them.

The will grow up thinking that if they were really worth
more than what records say they are,
You would have told them.

They aren't listening to the words.
The words are raising them.

I wonder
what
would
happen,

If our computers
could process
please
and
thank you.

Would a little
southern hospitality
solve
the
glitch-

Would a
teaspoon of humanity
melt
cold
metal.

Is there
more power to
simply
giving
thanks,

Than the
modern age
has
found
true.

Sorry, but
it's just sometimes,
I
just
wonder.

Please
and
Thank You.

They've always told you to "pick your battles".
But I'm coming to disagree with that whole concept.
Here's to hoping you will too.

                                                        New­sflash.
                                                         ­     Your choice isn't which battle to fight.
                                                                ­      Never was.

Because your choice was yesterday,
   and the day before that,
      and the year before that.

                                                          ­                                   Because your time to choose was then,
                                                           ­                                     when you decided your values
                                                                ­                                   and determined where you stand.

                                                       From there,
                                    your battles are clear,
                and you don't get to pick them.

                                                               ­                To believe in something and not
                                                                ­                                 fight for it
                                                                ­                is the highest form of falsehood.

            Once you know where you stand,
you fight the battles coming your way,
                          no second thought.

                                              So when they they tell you to pick your battles,
                                                        ­            tell them to step aside,
                                                           show them how little they know.

                                           How duped they will feel,
           finding out the war began a long time ago,
                          and you're coming out ahead.

                                                         ­   Find your place on the battlefield,
                                                    ­              not your place in a society
                                                       that demands order with trembling lips.

                                                          ­                  See.
                                          ­                                       You're already in this war,
                                                            ­                               armed and ready.

You're the commander.
Pick your stance.
But never your battles.

I know you.

Sitting behind a screen in your room,
Sipping in the shadows of a coffee shop.
iPhone, iPad, iAm "Anonymous".

The most dangerous word you can be labeled,
The most double-edged of weapons-
Anonymous.

You're never really as untraceable
As the cleared browser history says you are,
Never as untraceable as the chain of destruction you cause is traceable.

You're never really as invisible
As the checked box lets you think you are,
Never as invisible as the scars you direct a hand to make are visible.

One word can't be all that.
Anonymous can't be so dangerous.
Some clicks on a keyboard can't be so devastating.

There's a reason it used to be difficult to avoid responsibility.
Because responsibility for your words, for what you cause,
Is what allows you to see a few steps ahead.

Your signature is what allows you to learn from mistakes,
To vow after you've learned the hard way to think before you act.
To see that those words have two names attached to them now.

The writer, and the subject.
Two traceable, visible people.
Two hearts beating and breathing, now connected.

Anonymous constructs a wall between action and reaction.
It robs you of responsibility.
Yes, responsibility is a prized possession, there to teach and show.

Anonymous allows you to settle.
It robs you of the greater person you could become.
Yes, your future holds more than this, there beyond the wall of cyber bulling.

I hate that I was once Anonymous like you.
I hate that I unknowingly controlled the strings
Of a self-destructive marionette hand miles away.

But I don't hate you. Because I know you.
I know you are more than the mistakes you've made behind that screen.
I know you are more than Anonymous.

So prove it.