Stand up

Quiet, peace, solitude and loneliness. Places and traces of what we were and are.

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

                                 Stand-up

The dead do not speak.
Graveyards of men lay quiet.
Some remembered and some men forgotten.

Once great men stood for freedom.
Once great men fought in Europe, Asia and Africa.
Can their voices be heard?

Today freedom is in trouble.
The land of milk and honey had lost direction.
I tell the young people old man wisdom.

Hold you ground and work hard.
Don't accept welfare. Get a education and skill.
Nothing worthwhile is easy.

Free money for nothing make you weak and numb.
Strong people stand together for the gift of freedom.

I hear silence at the Military graveyards.
They would be sadden by the generation who took and didn't give back.

Old man wisdom is simple. My grandfather would of said.
Get up and go forward. Lazy people need to gain drive and real goals.
Don't expect a free meal. Work two jobs and improve your abilities.

Silence.
Think!
Find your way.
Dream, survive and know the sweet taste of freedom.
Freedom is earned. Not given.

Dear Grandfather told me. Hold silence before releasing negative words.
Love your family and don't accept free money from the Government.

Old way is needed.
Less government. Not more.
Health care. Government way to control you.
Credit cards will leave you broke and empty. Your life a paper trail.

Cell phones, computers and mass laziness.
Will downgrade the land of milk and honey.
Stand tall and strong for the word freedom.
Many died for us to have the decisions to lay-down and do nothing.

Or work hard and find proper reasons and place to live and grow.
People are like a garden. A proper garden need water to grow strong.
Education is the water and we must step-up.

Teach your children well. They are the future. Parent and grandparent are the gardeners of the future.

                                Coyote/John Castellenas

Author's Note

A new poem. I hope you like.

Reviews

[Angad Waraich]

Very well written for a start.
It shows very well the sentiments of a self made man reflecting upon a youth where work is a dying culture and almost everyone is dependant on someone else to provide for them.

A very touching and strangely motivational read.

Thank you for such beautiful thoughts and words.
-Angad

[Coyote Poetry]

Thank you Angad. We need the old way. Need to have skills to survive in this world. Education, education and more education. This will lead to great possibilities and chance.

[Pryde Foltz]

Education is the water and we must step-up.

There is some wisdom in this piece … we must work hard at what we love and honour our forefathers. And there are enough military graveyards, for sure.

[Coyote Poetry]

Thank you Pryde. Need wise leaders with proper goals.

[Pryde Foltz]

That we do.

[Baby Ricochet]

You do realize that the vast majority of people on medicad, food stamps and living in government housing have full time jobs at slave wages. Since the 1980's there's been a trend towards government deregulation in favor of corporate interests which has been disastrous for millions of people. Government deregulation was instrumental in the 2008 world wide economic catastrophe because it lead to one of man's oldest nemesis, greed. In an effort to stave off another 1929 style meltdown the federal government bailed out the auto industry, the banking industry and wall street but did nothing to protect strapped home owners from predatory loans made by the banking industry through small, store front mortgage lenders. NAFTA (North American free trade agreement) sent hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs over seas while creating low paying, retail jobs in America. Family dollar, Dollar General and the mushrooming of super wal marts across the country are a direct result of NAFTA. Paying the foreign work force nothing and the american work force next to nothing makes for maximum profits for corporations who have basically bought the American political process with supreme court rulings such as citizens united which allows no limitations on campaign finance from corporate donors. In the past year republicans have blocked legislation for an increase in the minimum wage, equal pay for women, lowering the loan shark interest rates charged on student loans and a host of other bills designed to lessen the burden on the middle and lower class. Both Democrats and Republicans have continued massive tax breaks and multi billion dollar subsidies for the oil industry, the farm bill, the gas industry, the banking system and other multi billion dollar corporations at the federal trough. The arm of the government with the highest record of human rights abuse in America isn't the Executive or the legislative, it's the judicial, which has become increasingly motivated by profit in the last twenty years. It's not big government we need to fear, it's the police and big corporations.

[Coyote Poetry]

I don't know. I was raised in Foster homes. Joined the Army at 17 to go to Vietnam in 1975. I missed Vietnam by a few weeks. I left the service and went to school. Worked two jobs. I never needed welfare and I worked hard. Today I make more money per year than anytime in my life. I don't blame any party. Both are controlled by the lobbyist. Here in Michigan. Healthcare killed off the economy and today trying to come alive. I saw the bad days of President Carter and the good days of President Clinton. Bad leadership is bad leadership. Don't spend money we do not have. President Clinton almost erased welfare. Always big business in the USA. This is not a communist country. We must work hard and educate our kids to be strong and don't live on welfare. More than half the population is on welfare of a sort. I didn't give up or in. Hard work and education.

[Bright Ocean Star]

I completely agree with you, Coyote. The federal government should have proven to us that they could fix the only federally run health care system they were currently running, the VA, before trying to tackle this latest debacle. They've turned the schools into a joke. They've got nearly everyone on welfare. They give millions to banks who foreclosed on people left and right, and who still won't give loans to people wanting to start small businesses...They threw millions and millions of dollars to rebuild iraq and afghanistan, training terrorists to turn on us and join the other side.... Its crazy. We've lost our way, and we need to fight to get it back. Thank you for this poem. It was very well written and insightful.

[zainul]

A very inspirational and educative write.
Thank you John for sharing the great write that will give direction and guidance to the youths and future citizens.

[Coyote Poetry]

Some places in this world. Education and a skill is priority for their children. We need to have our children everywhere prepared for life hardship and good days. Thank you my friend for reading and the comment.

[zainul]

Yes,your feelings for creating a dignified and conscientious society have been perfectly reflected in your wonderful poem.Poets like you have great responsibility in the making of a dignified nation.
Your role as a reformer is greatly appreciated.

[Coyote Poetry]

Thank you Zainul.

[Lyn Anderson]

I like the thoughts here. Very interesting, although I don't necessarily share your views on health care, I appreciate the sentiments.

[Coyote Poetry]

Healthcare broke the Government forever. Should be state controlled. Here in Michigan. Kids had always had options for healthcare. The states would had controlled the money. Federal government can't run a taco stand. Our president gave 500 million dollar worth of weapons to terrorist? You want rich men to control Healthcare? If we want to be communist. We have passed the halfway point. More than half the people are on welfare of a sort. USA is in trouble. I hope we learn. Education, jobs and fixing your own problems. Middle East had been a mess for 10,000 years. Leave them be. They will repair themselves. Old Johnnie is tire of the deadbeats in Washington D.C.

[Lyn Anderson]

Oh I get ya. You are not opposed to universal health care, just feds controlling. Ours is federally mandated provincially run.

[Coyote Poetry]

Federal Government cannot run 50 states. I believe three states run their own healthcare. 47 states knew the cost and left it for the federal government. I know old people who cannot buy medicine. Forced healthcare closed down thousand if businesses. Must be a medium.

[MsJewel]

You have shared some wise words in this well written poem. Great writing my friend :) Julie

[Coyote Poetry]

I watched the new by accident. Make me piss-off. Obama send 500 million worth of weapons to terrorist. Dumb decisions will cause more death. I pray for wise leaders and better decisions. Thank you Julie for reading.

[MsJewel]

My pleasure.