The fundamental flaw

There are times....
there are times I feel
swept up in the exhilaration of life, the ebb and flow
pushing and pulling me in an intoxicating dance,
where I feel connected deeply,
fundamentally,
to the rhythm of life.
Where I feel so connected and in sync
to the people around me,
where we talk and understand and conversations can flow with some words unspoken as we all just
get it.
Meaningful glances over cigarettes and nods of agreement...
yeah, man.

How long has it been since that last moment?
How long have I been so disconnected?

I feel like a child stumbling into a conversation,
a talk where I missed the beginning and am struggling to pick up a thread.
A word.
A theme to connect with.
I too keenly observe behaviors, gestures,
subtlety of physical movement,
that I formerly ignored as I contributed my impassioned opinion.

Someone caught me at this recently,
he smiled and said, "What do you think?"
And I froze.
What
did
I
think.
What
did
I
think??

I think we're all drinking too much.
I think we're all ignorant.
I think we're talking out of our asses and nothing we say is going to make a difference.
I think we're all presumptuous.
I think we're all just going through the motions until one day we're the topic of conversation in a group of mourners dressed in black...
puffing on cigarettes,
shaking their heads...
yeah, man.

I think we're talking too much and we need to listen.
I think we're sitting too much and we need some action.
I think we're allowing the rape of our nature and the crush of our culture and the oppression of our freedoms because we're fucking talking,
talking,
talking over beer and shaking our heads in defeat...
yeah, man.

I think we're weak.
I think we're giving up on the fundamental freedoms, like the one of speech, in exchange for faster internet and nice ringtones.
I think we're sitting when we should be moving,
talking when we should be listening,
whispering when we should be yelling
and fighting
and pushing back,
instead of placidly complaining...
yeah, man.

I think we're going to reach a moment where we have to make a fundamental decision whether to be comfortable or to go down swinging, whether to take the 2 year contract with no exit clause or to tear the paper in shreds and walk away from corporate dependency.
I think we'll reach that moment in this stupefied state of weakness and complacency,
and we will lose.
Shaking our heads...
yeah, man.

So what do I think, dear friend?
I think we're working with a fundamental flaw.
We have already accepted defeat.
When we're protesting at Duke Energy while we shop at Wal-Mart,
when we pick and choose which evil to boycott and which to support;
when we have allowed the subjugation to fully infiltrate our lives to the point of no return.
I think we should have another round,
sing along to this song a little,
enjoy this night...
cause we're already done.