The Royal We
We wish the world would so improve as to fit with us in our groove,
But while we grandly sit and wait, and yammer and pontificate
On all the failings, all the fuss of people being unlike us,
So stupid and so retrograde as to be differently made
And to espouse another thought than the superb one that we’ve got—
How troublesome! Noses aloft, we deem them worthy to be scoffed
And cringe in horror that they’d dream of doubting that we are supreme—
All ills, in fact, could be foregone if others could be counted on
To shape right up and so improve as to fit into our great groove.
Art-Colored Glasses 
Im afraid during my alcohol fuelled days this was a perfect description of me. I like to think my recovery continues to create the me I always knew was there and always wanted to show, far less judgemental and, although it seems very much a cliché, a live and let live approach to life. Xx
I’m quite certain that it’s when we are most self-critical and insecure that we turn to criticizing others’ faults and pecking at *their* insecurities. Alcohol, like so many other things we turn to in frailty, simply magnifies the effect in both directions: toward self and toward others. I’m so glad for you that you had the insight, help and courage it took to look so bravely inward and forward. That’s the only healing possible, and we can all benefit from attempting it in our own ways. I look to you for inspiration, my dearest.
xoxo,
Kathryn
Love it. That poem sums up me in my twenties as a young parent who knew the best way to do all the things… and quite a few other people I’ve met along the way. My research is all about the cultural politics of difference in popular culture and public education. Difference is so beautiful. Hugs to you, Kathryn.
Thank you kindly, my sweet Desi. I’m glad it resonated with you. I find I struggle with both versions of comparison to others at times: superiority and inferiority complexes, in a nutshell. I *hope* I am at least cognizant enough of the dangers and foolishness of such measurements that I don’t take them as truth and remember to straighten out whichever kinks they give me before I start to believe in them. VIVE la Difference!! And many hugs back!
Reblogged this on The Valentine 4 and commented:
Love this:
Strange, but I was thinking the very same thing about you! 🙂
😀 !!!
I maybe the opposite or am exactly this. I am always confused. I understand very little. And have no answer, for reasons I believe that I don’t ask the correct questions.
I enjoyed the soft satirical side of this. Well it is definitely poetry that grins at it’s ready.
Meant ‘reader’ not ready. See I can’t type either.
May I recommend switching to texting on a small iPad keypad or smaller phone one for awhile to make you feel you’re a wonderfully talented typist when you get back to a full-sized keyboard! I just did that experiment perforce this last week, and it did wonders (however briefly) for my attitude about my typing skills. 🙂
If I ever buy a cellphone or tablet I’ll be sure to give it try.
Just as I said, as recently as the beginning of this year. How surprising life is.
Thank you! This is me, grinning, too. 😀 I’m with you on the feeling-overmatched bit (see my note to Desi); I suspect all of us suffer from being too far on either side of the spectrum at one time or another, and most of us dwell more markedly in one spot. Heck, I can even manage to disparage myself as a lousy excuse for a low human when I think I’m getting too uppity in my attitudes! If *that* makes any sense. 😉
Cheers,
Kathryn
It makes sense to moi. Much of which I have done the last couple years evolves around, traverse over an under and wallows in just that. Seems as if I have many more trails to blaze before I make it home. The hardest, yet it would seem simple, is to pause long enough to acknowledge ‘we’ are only human after all -nothing new in that message.
You said it.
We are amused.
I hadn’t even thought of it when I drew the fellow, but he does look remarkably like a male caricature of Queen Victoria, doesn’t he! 😉 Glad he amused *you*, at least.
LOVE this post and illo!
Many thanks, dear Elena! So glad you do. 😀