We don’t get to pick our family
Or the country in which we’re born
Most families are quite imperfect
High praise will seldom adorn
Our country acts as, in absence of,
A national family
We’ve come together as mighty fist
To overcome tragedy
Just as you have complained about;
The faults of sister and brother;
The arbitrary dad’s imperfect justice;
The imperfectly care-worn mother
So it is with the family national
Not every behavior good
Complaints and suggestions are rational
Don’t banish before understood
One’s right to protest what isn’t good
For the national family
A founding right that’s understood
Wherever that protest be
Some family members are not all good
Most not prone to riot
Some bring dirt to the nation’s house
While others stay, clean, and quiet
If you demand “protestors leave”
You fail to understand
There’s no place to go but home
And clean the dirt that demands
National attention not just blind scorn
Your so self-righteous display
You can help with hearts reborn
To clean or get out of the way
Oct 17, 2016
Oct 17, 2016 at 10:59 AM UTC
We don’t get to pick our family
Or the country in which we’re born
Most families are quite imperfect
High praise will seldom adorn
Our country acts as, in absence of,
A national family
We’ve come together as mighty fist
To overcome tragedy
Just as you have complained about;
The faults of sister and brother;
The arbitrary dad’s imperfect justice;
The imperfectly care-worn mother
So it is with the family national
Not every behavior good
Complaints and suggestions are rational
Don’t banish before understood
One’s right to protest what isn’t good
For the national family
A founding right that’s understood
Wherever that protest be
Some family members are not all good
Most not prone to riot
Some bring dirt to the nation’s house
While others stay, clean, and quiet
If you demand “protestors leave”
You fail to understand
There’s no place to go but home
And clean the dirt that demands
National attention not just blind scorn
Your so self-righteous display
You can help with hearts reborn
To clean or get out of the way
My response to the Colin Kaepernick protest of police brutality. I had to rethink my stance when the Chelsea Bomber, a terrorist, weeks ago was shot wounded but not killed. Intentional? Why then are Black men with no offending evidence (other than skin color) killed without consideration of potential innocence? What's wrong with my country? Why do I fear for my African-American adult son?