It’s been a bit since I posted (I haven’t had ideas, plus it’s a crazy time of year).  I thought I’d share a poem I wrote.  I’ll warn you, though, that if you’re profoundly religious, you may not like it.  As for responses to this post, please don’t try to comment in the attempt to convince me of anything.  Please just take it as that it’s my blog, and I’m sharing my thoughts.

Belief                                                                 1/11/10

You ask me if I believe in God.

I do when I need to ask

why things are the way they are,

when I pray for loved ones

who are suffering,

even, I’m ashamed to say,

when I’M in crisis,

actual or perceived.

I need to feel there’s a God

when I question why there’s

so much hate,

why I have so much hate,

Why people do the Un-Godly

things they do to each other,

often in His name.

I want someone to be listening

when I wonder why we kill

for foolish things like jewelery,

shoes, money, and skin color,

act with cruelty to our peers,

disregard the needs of others,

even PRAY for harm to them.

I needed to pray for Joshua,

for Steph,

for Jacquie,

for Candy,

for my father,

and for many others

who needed aid I could not provide.

I need to have Him there

when I ask why there’s

a Michael Vick,

and others like him

who WON’T get caught,

why there are puppy mills

and dogs being tied to cars

and dragged.

I need to ask of Him,

why He gave us all this free will

to behave like monsters.

Why does he let Catholics

kill Protestants in Ireland

OVER BELIEF IN THE SAME GOD?

How come Muslims and Jews

are going to slaughter each other

until the apocalypse?

Why were thousands of people

allowed to die on 9/11,

millions to die in the Holocaust,

countless others only He knows

in all the wars in history?

Why have we enslaved others,

and still continue to do so?

How come people are hungry

while others can afford

to let food spoil?

Why do we stab each other

in the back,

metaphorically and literally?

Why?  How come?

I ask myself if I believe in God,

but if I only do

when I need these answers,

when I need help

or my loved ones do,

I can only then pray

to have that question

answered too.