A Schedule Retreated

To my funeral I could not go, on my schedule it was not.
With undeniable force, I was there, but not laid at rest.
One's life must be defined, managed, and given a slot.
Adherence to that is the measure of living done best.

Timed frames for duty and diligence are needed!
These planes of life you cannot refuse as if blind.
Meetings met at appointed times well heeded,
Have worth greater than mere presence of mind.

I check mark with glee a clocked event as done
A pleasure precisely so accomplished each one.

I could not go to my funeral as it wasn't planned
No allotment of my life listed was open to it.
While busy counting marks I was untimely banned
My worldly casket was shut and I lay restless within it.

Had I but defined an emptiness for the slots of calendar
The event could have been checked off as won.
I could sigh in pleasure for the penciled reminder.
But now I ask where love and life went undone.

Here in darkness I see regret, not for that which pleasured
in times done , but for that which was not so measured.

Kenneth Brahmer, 2009

It's time for revolution!

Today I received yet another email from our President...asking me to write congress urging them to support his health reform...and asking for money to support the cause.

Citizens have funded campaigns in the selection of elected officials. Why should citizens continue to pay for their elected officials to do their job? I pay taxes and they receive salaries with immense perks with those taxes. I've already paid, damn it!

The problem, which our founding fathers did not desire, is that elected officials do not focus on serving the citizens of this nation. The congressional entanglements are more interested in what will get them re-elected and what they must do to satisfy their party...and that goes for the president too! The backroom games, the maneuvering, the party line guidance and the outright extortion or vote buying within congress has value only to special interests and not the populace at large.

Advanced citizenship for elected officials means they do things right and they do the right things according to a conscience devoted to the people.

Most of us do NOT get paid to arrive at our workplace and then expect to be paid extra to do our job...nor do we spend inordinate time at work trying to retain our job regardless of the survival of the company that employs us.

So here's my urging to congress. Quit screwing around and do your job!
And to the President, I say - if the only way you can get the right things done is to get more money from me, then I'm going to start by getting another President.
But to my fellow citizens, I say - it's time for revolution!