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So many succumb to Group Think
in such a way that it is dangerous.
From a young age, though I knew not yet of the notion,
I rejected opinions passed to me as fact
for the reason that opinions are subjective:

I did not hold as 'beautiful' what they told me I ought to.
I did not hold as 'wondrous' what they said was so.
I did not hold as 'difficult' what others had not yet accomplished.
I did not regard as 'easy' what others had yet done.

I was not serious when they told me I must be.
I made jokes when they deemed it distasteful.
I laughed at the hypocrisy, right in it's face.
I didn't just lay down and accept it as fate.

I did not like the music they told me to like.
I did not believe the biased history they taught as absolute and true.
I did not worship the mythic Gods they made to be literal.
I refused to pledge my allegiance in a brainwashed mass
to any flag of any nation under any God with Liberty and/or Justice for merely a few.

Over time I acquired my own taste for these things:
I grew to appreciate the discrepancy
between what I was told
and what I observed.
From there, I formulated my own opinions,
I became an Individualist.
A Heretic.

They sure don't make it easy.

Individualism, to me, does not connotate isolationism,
though with isolation can come self-awareness and self-discipline.
Individualism, to me, refers to finding one's own Path;
being a Heretic; staying true to your own Path.
To be a Rebel to undue Authority.
To not be afraid to defy your peers.
To be an Anarchist within one's self.
To practice Civil Disobedience.

Plus, the friends you will make if you live this way
will blow your ******* mind
and last you a lifetime.
-
Opinions are never concrete; they must curve and morph with the ebb and flow of your particular life.
Opinions and Taste must be relative to one's own personality and life if they are to be genuine.

Even still, the pull of the social tide is not so easily resisted:

You are succumbing to Group Think
even more than you might think
but I think, or at least I think (that) I think
that we can all overcome Group Think
if we would all just stop and think.
Don't you think?
Spawned of a conversation with a friend, as well as many ancient feelings within myself.
Further reading:
http://hellopoetry.com/poem/satyagraha-peaceful-non-compliance/
Redshift Oct 2015
i can't make decisions
i sit and wish someone else would make them.
eventually they do and i just follow along
playing a part i was gently dropped into.

no more.

no matter how gentle the drop i'm still doing something i don't want
no means no
your will frightens me
you think what you do to me is worth it because you are satisfied
forgetting the living person that you perform your acts on.

*******, devin.
i'm sorry you feel sad
i'm sorry you don't do well in school
i'm sorry you spend your entire day playing a game that gets you no where
but when it comes to the question of my lips
my waist
my neck
my hipbones...
you are not permitted a say in the matter
no matter how "worth it" you think it is
they are mine to command
mine to keep if i so choose
*******,
****
you.
Alex Evans Mar 2019
crusaders
christianized, zealous warmongers with ****** stains on stainless steel blades
hauling with them the great flapping insignias of royalty, emblems of their special heritage
disregarding the fact blood flows warm and fast all the same, nobody spared
familiar ties shattered over petty disputes of land and territory in the name of a great purpose
a great purpose disguising glory-seekers and painters whose favorite color is red
led by a massive snowy warhorse with crimson hooves and jet black beady eyes
old, worn, and of a raggedy golden mane forever worshipped
it is my fate to follow
(that’s what they tell me)

crusaders
biblical storytales springing to life as they gallivant across the country singing do-goods
while their actions connotate some great demon lurking about behind their holy words
valiant warriors in service to a mighty omnipresent deity watching woefully from above
as they unnecessarily **** innocents that they knew it was wrong to ******
blind belief is as alive as bloodlust to them, screaming their lungs out for the almighty
they are the salvation and the scourge, leeches of the land and lordly leaders for long
fearful eyes of aliens stare to the sky and grovel in a piteous attempt for mercy
he cannot condone this
(and that’s what they don’t)

crusaders
knights of cardboard armor and ironclad skulls falling by the thousands
yet they relentlessly hunt the enemy like predatory raptors of the past, voracious
not yet declawed or defanged as they are before the plastic wisdom of man claiming to be
the god of glory, gold, and gore; suddenly he is a savage ravager and avenger of the undead
men swear themselves to a cloaked idol in order to become accusers of the guilty
when the openness of perception may be all that is truly necessary
even kings are defenseless against the all-consuming force of religious blessing
how is it just?

crusaders
god’s greatest success
crusaders
god’s greatest regret
(am i both or neither?)
Katlego Tladi Jun 2014
She will die
Her legacy will dilate
She will diarise
Her dire straits
On diamond slates

She will die a dilute of what was once a concentrate.

Contemplate what her cons can connotate but exonerate all thoughts which harbour hate.

No, she is not a saint.
No, she is not a villain.
Oh she has made me great and
So she will make my children
jerely Sep 2015
A poem is more than anything, it bleeds to where it started but it doesn't stop as what my heart and soul that brings me to resurrect life, itself.

It brings hope, faith and courage to ask one's self or perhaps love to bring out the butterflies that hide from within.

I could connotate such pictures and a beautiful power of wisdom & thoughts besides a murky shadowed wing, either it still reflects the person of who she/he is.

A poem that give us something to hold on, to carry on and to bring forth to the future. Words of a poem will make everyone change. Sometime, somehow.
it will always stick and always will.


Jerelii
Sept 4, 2015(11:45pm)
Copyright
Anya Jul 2018
When
Your helping her helping him
It’s for your own gain
Either it benefits you
It makes you feel good or better about yourself
It’s someone you love or like
All of these are for yourself
There is no “selfless”

But

Neither is it selfish
People connotate
selfish
With bad
It doesn’t have to be
Why should we
Do something if we have no motivation?

Motivation
Comes from
Us having some stake
Some benefit
Something to gain
Some reason to act
To speak
To behave

So it’s not selfish
I the cynic would say,
Nor is it selfless
There is no such thing
It’s simply the cogs and mechanics
That turn
And enable us to act
Speak
Behave
Work

Because why would we do anything without a reason
even if that reason happens to be boredom
or curiosity?

— The End —