{"id":42,"date":"2019-01-16T03:39:47","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T03:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/matthewknowland.com\/blog\/?p=42"},"modified":"2019-01-16T14:40:30","modified_gmt":"2019-01-16T14:40:30","slug":"lessons-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matthewknowland.com\/blog\/2019\/01\/16\/lessons-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"I try to teach my kids civility\nI aim to instill respect\nAs you stand upon your soapbox\nDoing the very things I ask them to reject\n\nThe name calling, the mockery\nthe disregard for people\u2019s lots\nThe lack of compassion and empathy\nfor the things most people fight for- that you bought\n\nThe lies, misleadings, and backtracks\nthe disproven \u201cno I didn\u2019ts\u201d\nA child in a chair and not a thrown\nImmune to things like evidence\n\nWhims for approval turned promises\nDrawing lines within the sand\nIt seems it\u2019s more about winning\nThan for that for which you stand\n\nBoth sides telling stories\nVersions of truth their only bond\nBut we\u2019ve grown tired of being treated\nas lemmings, sheep, or pawns\n\nYou push, you prod, you bully\nbut to \u2018serves\u2019 not in your nature\nIt\u2019s not politicing but your very actions\nThat go against the presidential nomenclature\n\n\u201cHow much blood\u201d is how you sell your people\non a wall to protect the border\nWhile daily mass shootings by citizens\ndon\u2019t sway you on gun control reform from your NRA donor\u2019s orders\n\nPraying on fear and on weakness\nXenophobia\u2019s your zen\nOur nation of immigrants now vilifying\nasylum seekers and aliens\n\nTaking his ball when he can\u2019t have his wall\nLeaving no room to negotiate\nHow can we expect progress\nWith the elected refusing to participate\n\nYour way or the highway\ndisagreement means dissension\nAnd all the while teaching\nto attack with cruel intension\n\nOur reality turned reality show\nCampaigned threats seeming scripted or phantom\nBut the series plays out before us\nwith every tweet and every tantrum\n\nIs confusion what you seek\nOr is this show purely propaganda\nEach decision that you forge\nFor you own personal bonanza\n(But you lack the historical knowledge\u2026and charisma\nof Lin Manuel Miranda)\n\nHalf way through or perhaps a quarter\nMay your legacy be not pure stain\nBe it through frustration or distrust\nThe distain has caused a change\n\nA palpable shift of those typically silent\na democratic squall\nSome running to steal the dusty seats\nWhile throngs now protest standing tall\n\nInnocence lost &#8211; what have we done?\nOur children\u2019s first act to revile\nLike the epiphanies of Scrooge or the Grinch\nThere\u2019s still time to right the ship and reach across the aisle\n\nNot party first, but future first\nwe can once again be great\nBut to find that hidden path once more\nStarts with putting aside the hate.\n\nSo I will teach my children\nHate is ignorant, love\u2019s a mission\nStanding up for your beliefs\nShould never mean not listening\n<!-- \/wp:post-content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I try to teach my kids civility I aim to instill respect As you stand upon your soapbox Doing the very things I ask them to reject The name calling, the mockery the disregard for people\u2019s lots The lack of compassion and empathy for the things most people fight for- that you bought The lies, &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.matthewknowland.com\/blog\/2019\/01\/16\/lessons-learned\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Lessons Learned&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewknowland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewknowland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewknowland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewknowland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewknowland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewknowland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewknowland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions\/47"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewknowland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewknowland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matthewknowland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}