{"id":2350,"date":"2016-06-21T08:57:20","date_gmt":"2016-06-21T13:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=2350"},"modified":"2016-06-21T08:57:20","modified_gmt":"2016-06-21T13:57:20","slug":"poem-a-bout-as-helpful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/21\/poem-a-bout-as-helpful\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: A Bout As Helpful"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>He axed<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Are you a Christian?<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Sow bound to answer<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>I am<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Though that is a bout<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>As helpful<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>As siding the fact<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>That I am American<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>When in truth<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Such a confining chide<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Might only be a parent<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>As eye more fully scene <\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>As a planetary citizen<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/toppun.com\/Religious-Spiritual\/Buttons\/The-secret-of-contentment-is-the-realization-that-life-is-a-gift-not-a-right-SPIRITUAL-BUTTON.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/toppun.com\/Religious-Spiritual\/The-secret-of-contentment-is-the-realization-that-life-is-a-gift-not-a-right.gif\" alt=\"The secret of contentment is the realization that life is a gift, not a right. SPIRITUAL BUTTON\" width=\"171\" height=\"172\" \/><\/a>Gandhi famously said, &#8220;I am a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, and a Jew.&#8221; \u00a0He understood the ever transcendent claim of religion to that which is beyond, including beyond\u00a0any single religious tradition. \u00a0Being raised in a particular religious tradition is quite assuredly not the primary form of divine providence. \u00a0Similarly, the end all and be all of our existence is not simply defined by accidents of birth, whether it be nationality, gender, race, etc. \u00a0While the particularities of our life on earth, in this solar system, in this universe, provide the delicious details of our story, our special conditions are not\u00a0only lessens to be learned, confining us to a shadowy prism in a rainbow of creation. \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/toppun.com\/Martin-Luther-King\/Buttons\/Faith-is-taking-the-first-step-even-when-you-don-t-see-the-whole-staircase-MLK-QUOTE-BUTTON.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/toppun.com\/Martin-Luther-King\/Faith-is-taking-the-first-step-even-when-you-don-t-see-the-whole-staircase.gif\" alt=\"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase. MLK QUOTE BUTTON\" width=\"173\" height=\"173\" \/><\/a>This poem alludes to the childish nature of making life a bout such parochial commitments. \u00a0This poem presents a more mature vision of mere nationalism as better scene in the light of awe being passengers on this planetary citizen ship. \u00a0There is nothing wrong with celebrating our particularities in life, as long as it is not used as a justification for devolving into egocentrism and tribalism. \u00a0Evolution has more to do with than sects. \u00a0May we learn to both relax and experience the exhilaration of skydiving into the bigger whole, sow big that it may rightly in compass\u00a0life and death.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/toppun.com\/Anti-War\/Buttons\/Stop-Taking-Life-Literally-ANTI-WAR-BUTTON.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/toppun.com\/ProductImages\/peace-anti-war\/6-Stop-Taking-Life-Literally.gif\" alt=\"Stop Taking Life Literally--ANTI-WAR BUTTON\" width=\"172\" height=\"173\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>He axed Are you a Christian? Sow bound to answer I am Though that is a bout As helpful As siding the fact That I am American When in truth Such a confining chide Might only be a parent As &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/21\/poem-a-bout-as-helpful\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,9,15],"tags":[294,25,574,385,440,428,154,644,356,359,441,72,379,658,94,83,31,53,547,421,487],"class_list":["post-2350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-peace","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-awe","tag-christian","tag-creation","tag-death","tag-evolution","tag-experience","tag-gandhi","tag-gender","tag-hindu","tag-life","tag-muslim","tag-nationalism","tag-nature","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-religion","tag-religious","tag-short-poems","tag-transcendent","tag-truth","tag-universe"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>POEM: A Bout As Helpful | Peace, Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun&#039;s Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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