Do Not Apologise
written by: Aurora Kastanias
My dear fish, feels like the world is going bonkers,
Humanity has stumbled upon a bizarre newfangled disorder
Compelling it to walk backwards, blind to its retroceding course,
Blind to its sombre direction, its dismal destination,
All it sees is its Past and it dwells on it handpicking causes
Amidst injustices occurred centuries ago oblivious to its Present.
Brace yourself, my dear fish, this is only the beginning.
This obsessive compulsive rumination has engendered awkward games,
For one, they are breaking things, self-righteous megalomania
They have proclaimed themselves judges and they are judging
Nothing less than History, pulling down statues striving to rewrite it
A kind of exercise in style if you will yet I wonder how can they
If none were there. Wonder what begot their rage and arrogance,
They are condemning humans of the Past for crimes that were not
Crimes at the time they were committed, much like accusing X and Y
Of cheating, at a game X and Y did not know were playing.
Be that as it may, I am puzzled, by the arbitrariness of their selection,
If chasing monsters is the game and the monsters are those who made
History in the first place, why would they not start
By dismantling pyramids and tearing down Rome?
And furthermore, if indignation is the rule why not condemn the Present?
The monsters making History today, perhaps before committing
The atrocities of the Past again? Why not condemn X and Y for cheating
At a game they know they are playing? Why not condemn those willing
To hurt humanity and leave it in despair? Those who not centuries ago
But Today are willingly oblivious to a billion humans suffering
From starvation (one in eight), a billion more from wars and conflicts
(two in eight), hundreds of millions displaced left to suffocate
In containers, drown in the abysses of corpse-cradling seas, fifty million
“Modern” slaves forgotten, whilst the monsters are arming for a third
Great War and Earth itself is crying, shouting, heating, struggling
To survive and death has conquered oceans and even air is having
Difficulty breathing.
But that is not all, my dear fish. I recognise it takes courage to appal,
These self-righteous megalomaniac judges have taken the seats
Of Sophists distributing hemlock poison in the form of public shame
To the heretics who dare express a complete thought. I shudder. J’accuse!
Sans dictatorships or tyrannies humanity is terrified
To speak its mind, freedom is bound to blind allegiance, as if
Any desirable evolution, any possible progress could stem
From silencing humanity’s voice, dialectics and debates have been
Effectively laid to rest, people are ceaselessly abjuring, restlessly apologising
For uttering an opinion, to avoid infamy and disgrace but I would like to listen
To all sides of all stories, my understanding will not come from agreement,
And I can only hope for my brothers and sisters and my and their children
To be able and willing and have the right, to heed and hark one another
Embrace diversity not by tarnishing or labelling it but through appreciation
Realise that a counterargument is not an attack but an invitation
Respect humanity’s multifarious voices even when raucous or strident
And perhaps, why not? after carefully listening to all sides of all stories,
Formulate an own personal, critical, opinion.
Beware, my dear fish, do not be fooled! It is not Freedom
Of Speech being burnt at stake, but the freedom to listen, the Freedom
Of Expression and above all and most profoundly the Freedom
Of Thought.
While studying for my BA in Business Administration, at an American University in Rome, I further got enchanted by 19th century existential authors as well as European ‘absurdism’ and the Theatre of the Absurd.
It was only after my MBA that I started writing more seriously, giving space to my true passions. In recent years I have written two existential novels in Italian. In recent months I have started studing astrophysics and writing poems in english, which finally brings me here.
- Do Not Apologise - August 5, 2024
- Infected Mangrove - May 29, 2024
- Sentimental Ebb - March 2, 2024
