The Audacity

You woke up today,

From a comfortable bed.

You had blankets to warm you

And a pillow beneath your head.

You had food to fill your stomach

You had clean water to drink.

You had time to plan your day

You had time to think.

You have clothes on your body

And shoes on your feet.

You have a phone in your hand

Typing your latest Tweet.

"These mandates are like Nazi Germany!"

You type without irony.

Do you do it for a grift,

Or are you really this disarming?

You can say that it's an opinion,

And that you have freedom of speech.

But you need to be cautious

From which soapbox you're trying to preach.

You are not immune

To the backlash of your attack.

Your actions still have consequences

And your words have a social tax.

No, you won't be beaten

Or rooted out of your homes.

But your words still have power

Never mind the sticks and bones.

You think that you're oppressed

Like the Jews were way back when.

You think the mandates are fascist

Like the Nazis were back then.

Were you thrown into ghettos?

Were you culled into trains?

Were you beaten, raped, and starved?

Did they take away your name?

Did you line up for the chambers?

Did you see your family die?

Did you fight to live another day?

Did you fight like hell to survive?

Did you stack dead bodies in ditches?

Did you smell the sweetish scent of burning flesh?

Were you covered in the ashes

Of your murdered friends and kin?

You are not a victim.

You are not oppressed.

You're not getting canceled.

Your rights aren't being suppressed.

You were just asked a simple favor.

Get vaccinated and wear a mask.

Yet we've been doing this for two years

Because you won't do this easy task.

The audacity of your careless words

Fester in the mind like disease.

You want to know who the real oppressors are?

Look in the mirror and you'll see.

You are your own self-made victim.

There's a reason you're so confused.

Because the person who's being holding you back

Has always been you.