"Forgetting Alexander" by John Kaniecki

There is an ingrained arrogance of the European culture, especially as manifested by the United States. The United States claims that they are the greatest civilization that ever lived at any time. This boast is echoed by the repeated cries of “We’re number one.”

So what are we exactly number one in? Military spending is one, almost outspending the rest of the world combined. We have more people incarcerated than any other nation. We have great material wealth but people living in poverty and children going hungry. We have no universal health care.

In fairness there are some wonderful things about the United States. Its people is it greatest treasure, but then again another segment of the population is the world’s worst nightmare. We have the wonderful ideas of the founding fathers but they were plagiarized from the Native Americans. Still freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion are worthy of praise.

Unfortunately the United States does not live up to its ideals. Not only that, but the government simply does not try. What the United States and the world in general needs is a paradigm shift away from destructive greed. This lust for mammon is bleeding the blood of the poor in endless wars. Simultaneously it is destroying the environment. It is time to throw capitalism on the ash heap of history as we have done with monarchies.

People will rightly claim that capitalism is the best system to make money. But money is far from being my ‘god’. We need a shift from the carnal to the spiritual. We need a world where the value of a human being’s life is over the value of material things.  

Another myth is that ‘communism’ doesn’t work. There have been many communal societies, such as the Native Americans in both continents that had perfectly functioning societies. They had no prisons, no psychiatric hospitals, no poverty or hunger and almost no warfare. Don’t believe the lies you are told about the indigenous peoples of this land. The United States tries to hold these people in a negative light to in some way justify the genocide of noble civilizations. I can prove that the United States has flagrantly violated all the treaties with the Native Americans which are over 500. So if you want to believe the history of a proven liar, you are quite welcome to be a fool.

American ‘exceptionalism’ has taken the United States to new heights of arrogance. The United States believes that they have the right to military intervene anywhere in the world by some moral mandate. The United States should take a long, hard, look in the mirror and clean up its own mess. Leading by example is truly the way to go.

That brings us to the poem, “Forgetting Alexander”. History records that Alexander the Great conquered the known world. Most people conditioned by the American indoctrination won’t even recognize the absurdity of such a statement. Alexander may have led a great army which did such a feat. Clearly generals, soldiers, weapons makers, farmers, and so forth aided in the effort. To make a statement giving all of the credit to Alexander shows the psychology of the problem.

Therein lies in arrogance so deeply embedded in our culture. Like Christopher Columbus discovering a place already inhabited by a flourishing civilization. It is high time that we turn the world upside down. To place the common man as the hero and to correctly identify the criminal nature of those who exploit the world for financial gain. We can begin by “Forgetting Alexander”.

Forgetting Alexander

By John Kaniecki

I am picking daisies

Amongst tossed stones

Giant, great in size

Once before the legions marched

Many years ago

Conquering

Killing

Wholesale Slaughtering

Making widows

Creating orphans

Alexander

May you be forgotten

And all those

Who uphold your image

So this poem

Will be a quaint

Disturbing

Puzzle

Let the daises grow

For another's true love

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