By SHELIA BLAND
The peculiar thing is–
When fear and tyranny rear their ugly heads
Neither fear nor tyranny is mentioned.
People are more afraid of being afraid than they are afraid of tyranny.
So, they go on fearing the things they fear,
Feeding their fears and feeding tyranny.
Tyranny grows, eating up everything in its wake while the people sit silently.
The people, out of fear, elect leaders who willgovern in silence in the face of tyranny
eating away at the people who elected them.
And fear and tyranny swell to ever expanding heights.
Engulfing ever more space
So, the freedom to move shrinks,
Squeezing out ever more air
Eliminating all freedom of speech.
Silence builds empires–
supports enslavement–
Incinerates and exterminates whole people.
This silence, that fear and tyranny feast upon also grows
As silence becomes justified—
Silence to build wealth,
Silence to advance careers,
Silence to feed families…
A silence justified.
Now, fear, tyranny, and silence reign.
A justified silence becomes a pervasive silence—
Keeping pace with the ravenous gluttony of an ever-expanding tyranny
A tyranny breeding more silence and fear.
The weight of the triumvirate
The malicious trinity
Tyranny, fear, silence
Crushes the people completely.
Devouring their flesh and bones
Fear and tyranny die of starvation
Leaving only silence
Shelia Bland lives in Midtown Phillips. She has been writing most of her life to help herself understand the experiences and people in her shared world.
