Dear Mr. Paine

Dear Mr. Paine,

Across a vast and turbulent sea of time you have cried out to a deaf audience.

Your words are as true today, well over 200 years later, as when you wrote about Common Sense.

With technology we may now sit at home and talk with anyone in the world anytime over a handheld device:

Yet such power of communication comes not without a hefty price.

Scientific advancement has created a society set adrift, alone yet in mass.

We have the power to reach the entire world, learn from all, but still we only clash.

People claim thousands of friends whom they've never met, yet few know their own neighbor.

Regardless, we spend countless hours worrying about other's lives with pointless points we endlessly belabor.

We have a thing called 'Political Correctness' which only quashes sense,

Because we worry so about who may take offense.

Children kill each other in senseless slaughter at school,

As our society drowns Common Sense in a bloody crimson pool.

Parents let children make decisions best left to adults;

Imagine the disastrous, nonsensical results.

Yes, there are good points, this I do indeed grant.

We have more tolerance in many areas though it may at times seem scant.

Same sex marriages are now legal in our nation.

Slavery is a thing of our past though many remember a former generation.

But, instead of learning from our mistakes of the past,

Many try to eradicate and forget: this is a mistake of proportions vast.

We had a Civil War which ended the bondage of fellow humans.

Yet we tear down statues that show our societal contributions.

I fear that our technology, able to bring about tolerance and understanding…,

Instead distances us from each other, communication notwithstanding.

So, all these years later, people are still people, with all their virtue and fault.

I fear if we don’t grow up our entire world may come to a screeching halt.

As did you, dear Thomas, I pray Common Sense to prevail.

Yet I fear my words are to little avail.

Sincerely,

Andrew C. McDonald