Would you man, be so kind

Elina Lundell

Do I have the right to sit here, watching some
nonsense show on the tv while the world looks like it does?

Should I not be out there fighting? Pitchfork and fire raised high? Fighting for the Earth that houses us all,
even as it screams for us to leave?
Fight for the trees we’re burning for enjoyment,

the animals we are killing by doing so?

Should I not be knee-deep in the once bluest of oceans, hauling out the soda caps my ancestors
and peers couldn’t bother throwing away?
Keeping dolphins and penguins and reefs safe as I do so?

Should I not use the knowledge my privilege has
provided me by teaching it to others?
And while doing so,
healing people history has over and over said is worth less?

Should I not use the voice my mother has given me
and stand for those who can’t?
Should I not scream at the top of my voice as the rights I’m told again and again I very much have are being ripped from my sister's bleeding arms?

Together all these things of distraction have one common denominator: man, man, man and man. And no, I don’t mean mankind.