Monday, May 20, 2013

Pentecost Prayer Day 47

It's not that I want my progeny to be like me; I've often prayed for the opposite.
Both of my children, I prayed, would best of their father and my composite.
I preached at them that they had choices about which traits they'd incorporate.
I came to this knowledge little by little; I hope I wasn't, in teaching it, too late.

My religion and some religions before said we are programmed by our parents;
The mistakes they and their parents made have haunted humans ever since.
But there are other beliefs that celebrate the individual talents and gifts,
Rather than setting all who are different, from community of the tribe, adrift.

Some are born to be warriors until all earthly evil comes to an end
Some are born to be interpreters, so that all human voices can blend.
Some do the work of the body; others the work of the mind.
There can be no human progress unless all efforts are combined.

Damn the religious leaders that relegated the dirty work on earth
To positions of disrespect and scorn to which others are given birth.
The work of blood and dirt, as well as the work of the philosophers,
In balance to all needs, is that to which our survival as humans defers.

My children have a balance of my thoughts and their father's skills;
I wish that the honor of both was something our society instilled.
A thinker without those who can bring visions to fruition,
Leaves all physical parts of nature in untenable positions.

Will we stop the competition of those who plan and those who do?
The people who do both well is reflected in only a few.
It is time that we honor partnerships of opposite gifts,
Before we send all of humanity's progress to, backwards, drift.

Many men have been shamed for reflecting any feminine traits;
Though this is the balance that our world, in humans, awaits.
Women have been log-tasked with performing as both parents
When off to industry and war, the male parent was sent.

It is time that we begin to prepare our children and ourselves for peace;
Only with equal strengths, will our progress toward unity increase.
Respect and celebration for different approaches to success
Will keep humanity from our tendency, in fear of change, to regress.


My prayer for Pentecost is that we come to understand that humans can choose what gender roles they play after their own births. Male and female are equal, no matter what came first; our gifts and weaknesses are interdependent.