Questionnaire by Wendell Berry

Questionnaire

by Wendell Berry

How much poison are you willing
to eat for the success of the free
market and global trade? Please
name your preferred poisons.

For the sake of goodness, how much
evil are you willing to do?
Fill in the following blanks
with the names of your favorite
evils and acts of hatred.

What sacrifices are you prepared
to make for culture and civilization?
Please list the monuments, shrines,
and works of art you would
most willingly destroy

In the name of patriotism and
the flag, how much of our beloved
land are you willing to desecrate?
List in the following spaces
the mountains, rivers, towns, farms
you could most readily do without.

State briefly the ideas, ideals, or hopes,
the energy sources, the kinds of security;
for which you would kill a child.
Name, please, the children whom
you would be willing to kill.

Happy Mother's Day

This was on the Writer's Almanac today. Wendell berry is one of my favorite poets.


To My Mother by Wendell Berry





I was your rebellious son,
do you remember? Sometimes
I wonder if you do remember,
so complete has your forgiveness been.

So complete has your forgiveness been
I wonder sometimes if it did not
precede my wrong, and I erred,
safe found, within your love,

prepared ahead of me, the way home,
or my bed at night, so that almost
I should forgive you, who perhaps
foresaw the worst that I might do,

and forgave before I could act,
causing me to smile now, looking back,
to see how paltry was my worst,
compared to your forgiveness of it

already given. And this, then,
is the vision of that Heaven of which
we have heard, where those who love
each other have forgiven each other,

where, for that, the leaves are green,
the light a music in the air,
and all is unentangled,
and all is undismayed.

Don't give me Justice: I need Mercy

Wendell Berry has written in Citizenship Papers " Even justice, without mercy ,forgiveness, and love is intolerable." Sleeth, In serve God, Save the Planet has voiced similar statements. Micah 6:08 says,"He has showed you,O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy. and to walk humbly with your God." Doubtless there are innumerable other statements like this that I am unaware of. It is a subject worth thought.
Where can I find the need for justice and mercy in my everyday life? When I eat in a restaurant I should give a fair tip to the waiter (waitress). She is working and has to live ,too. Mercy might provide a larger than necessary tip, or an adequate tip even if service was not so good. (She may be just starting or having a bad day.) I should give the benefit of doubt. After all, I will receive recompense based on what I did and thought, not what someone else did or thought.
When I am stopped for speeding and instead of a ticket, receive a warning (could it be my white hair?), that is clearly mercy.
Since I began mulling this topic several days ago, I have become more confused, not less. Virtually all the examples I came up with related to either legal or religious matters. The other examples seemed to fall more in the realm of kindness rather than justice/mercy.
So... what do you think? Give me some input. Posting to comments will allow me to edit and also easily make your thoughts avaiale to everyone who cares to look.

What We Need Is Here- Wendell Berry

What We Need Is Here

Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here.

Wendell Berry