Joseph Sarandos
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Fellow Americans; What if?
Fellow Americans; What if?
What if your own city were declared a sacred place,
by any tribe of Indians who were the native race,
and you were told you had to leave the property you own,
and take your children from the only place they’ve ever known?
Would you be kindly, understanding and cooperative,
and leave in peace to find another place that you could live,
because your city had been built on war-acquired land
where once a holy temple of the Indians did stand?
Would you agree that it was wrong, 200 years ago,
for founders of America to treat the natives so,
and that the current generation of the once-oppressed
retain a right to lands that their forefathers once possessed?
What if you decided that you own your property
because you hold a deed that was recorded legally,
and that it had been purchased in accordance with the laws,
and that you’ve paid the taxes as the owner without pause?
What if you decided that you didn’t want to leave,
or that you should be compensated, as you might believe,
according to the Constitution and its Bill of Rights,
regardless of who’d owned the land before the ancient fights?
Would you then be prepared to die within the house you own,
as Indians in battle-tanks destroyed it stone-by-stone,
or would you run to save your life, and take your family,
to make yourself in your own land a homeless refugee?
What if there were not another place that you could go,
except to some small village in the north of Mexico,
where you’d be treated as a stranger, though with charity,
but where you’d have to learn their tongue and speak it fluently?
Would you not instead prefer to join Americans
who had been also so-displaced by raiding Indians,
in camps that they had set aside for housing refugees,
within the borders of your city that they chose to seize?
Then what if you discovered that another entity,
like Russia, China, or Japan; to be exemplary,
had armed the band of Indians and given them support,
like has been done for Israel by nations of our sort?
Then what if your own sons or daughters got machine-gunned down
for throwing rocks at Indians who occupied your town?
And what if you discovered that their organs had been sold
before their lifeless bodies had grown very stiff and cold?
Would you feel so much anger and resentment in this case,
that you’d take steps, regardless of the risks that you would face,
to drive away the Indians by any means at hand,
including self-explosion as your last and final stand?
Of course you do not have to answer these things openly,
but can go on discussing matters academically,
because you’re not in Palestine, as Arab or as Jew,
and there are no real Indians who are a threat to you.
But in your heart and mind, as well as in your very soul,
you know that you would not assume a gentle, passive role,
if it were you, and your own children, and your property,
that were at risk and danger in your own community.
So please, for your own sake as God perceives you in his mind,
remember that he wants you to be good, be fair, be kind,
and love all others as you do yourself, which is your test.
The First Command is “DO NOT KILL”; as simple are the rest.
In love, not one Commandment can be broken of the ten,
yet greed and lust compete with love for dominance in men,
and fear does cause the best of men to kill in self-defense.
But only evil brings about the death of innocents.
As evil as you might perceive “the Indians” to be,
as I have vilified them but for this analogy,
the Jews are evil as they treat the Palestinians,
and evil is the help they get from us Americans.
May 22, 2002
(No copyrights claimed. Distribute freely.)
By Joseph Sarandos
3230 E. Westcott Ave.
Visalia, CA
josephsarandos@hotmail.com
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4/8/2006, 5:56 am
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Joseph Sarandos
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Re: Fellow Americans; What if?
Since we're all endowed equally with the basic human nature, then we are all capable of understanding why the Palestinian civilians will never "forgive and forget" the military invasion, siezure and occupation of their public and private lands, the voiding of their Human and Civil Rights, and the cold-blooded murders of their children and relatives, by their fair-skinned cousins with the help of "the white man".
Regardless of "lip service" to the contrary, it is an inescapable and true fact that any and all of us would be doing exactly what the Palestinian civilians are doing now, if faced with the same circumstances,
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4/23/2006, 2:58 am
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insider3
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Re: Fellow Americans; What if?
Joseph,
I, for one, have been unable to quickly find this poem when I've wanted to send the URL to friends of mine.
Here it was, buried on the second or third page of this one of many forum sections.
Wouldn't it be a good idea to "stick" it onto the first page?
Best regards,
Bob
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12/26/2006, 8:39 am
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Joseph Sarandos
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Re: Fellow Americans; What if?
Done, Bob.
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12/26/2006, 9:54 am
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insider3
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Re: Fellow Americans; What if?
I'm glad that you followed my humble suggestion, Joseph.
There have been at least 400 more views of this thought-provoking poem just since you moved it.
Bob
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1/13/2007, 7:34 am
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