To the Enablers (Flight 93)

 

 

The latest in my series Sixty Days, leading up to the 2020 US Presidential Election, I set this poem on United Flight 93, in the moments before passengers rose up against their terrorist hijackers.  It exhorts those on board to not just sit there, but do something!

Flight 93 is the plane that crashed into a Pennsylvania field rather than into the US Capitol in Washington, because several of the passengers rose up and tried to take control of the plane.  The nation is indebted to them for their courage and action at a pivotal time, at the cost of their own lives.  Think how our lives might have been changed, if they had not acted!

I got the opening phrase from an interview with Maria Hinojosa this morning on Morning Joe (MSNBC’s morning show.)  She was speaking about immigration policy and reprehensible practices that have been allowed in detention facilities, and calling on the Biden campaign to speak out about it.

But I think the phrase applies more generally, especially to our own apathy and indifference toward governance and elections, even in this time of crisis.

I was also influenced by a documentary on screen addiction.  Having a busy screen to attend to at all hours makes even our passivity seem active to us.  It allows us to turn a blind eye to the wider world.  Thus the screen is a tool for those who hope we will not notice what they are doing. 

And in the language of addiction, enablers are those who allow bad behavior to continue, either by ignoring it, tolerating it, or even worse, facilitating or encouraging it.  

In just a week, I’ve managed to run the gamut in my poems, referring both to calling out “Fire!” in a movie theater, and to inciting a riot.  Both practices are of course considered to be outside of the First Amendment’s freedom of speech protections, and should be condemned. 

I am not, with this poem, condoning violent protest or any civil insurrection, all of which I condemn and despise. But within the bounds of the First Amendment, there is much we can do and should do, to make sure things turn out well for our nation.

People should make some noise.   And they should vote.

Thank you for coming by to read!

 

 

It’s no time to be quiet.

No time to stare at strobing screens,

To softly cry or stifle screams,

To meekly sit and fold our hands,

Like all was well within our land.

 

It’s no time to be quiet.

We’ve watched so many thousands die.

Our land’s condemned if we comply.

For in our silence lies their strength:

It lets them go to any length.

 

It’s no time to be quiet.

So use your body, use your voice!

Now’s the time to make a choice!

Bang your cups against the bars,

If you want to keep what’s ours.

 

It’s no time to be quiet.

Villains man this plane, and fly it,

Aimed, by automatic pilot,

Set to crash, so all will die—it’s

No time to be quiet.

It’s time to start a riot.

 

Copyright 2020 Andrea LeDew

 

For more from the series leading up to the 2020 Election see Sixty Days.

For a poem on electoral indifference, see Apathy .

For more thoughts on the effects of time-managing smart phones and other devices on our lives, see Alarming . 

For a short poem on social media, see Like.