INDIVIDUALISM

To the old of the new world’s worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying;
Or one that is coming to birth.

Irish poet Arthur O’Shaughnessy (1844-1881)
From ODE

It was not the timid-hearted that moved civilization forward
during the ages. Rather it was the individualistic person
with the courage to think and be different. It was the individual
who refused to be ruled by king, czar or dictator,
who boarded leaky ships and sailed into the unknown,
into ferocious tempests while living on half-starving rations.
Longing for freedoms of all sorts, these freedom-seeking people
populated new worlds, dealt with harsh temperatures and hostile inhabitants.

In America it was men like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln,
and Ronald Reagan, who proclaimed to Mr. Gorbachev –
“Tear down this wall!”
In India it was individuals like Buddha, Tagore and Gandhi
that lighted the way.
Men cannot be free when a government makes all their decisions.
It takes many different kinds of free individuals – scientists, writers,
philosophers, explorers, politicians, generals, teachers and doctors
to advance us with new technology and ideas.

I plead for men everywhere to be free to follow their dreams.
May their eyes rise to the moon and the stars, and may they listen
to the mystery in the winds blowing their thunderous ever-eternal truths.

Ruth Wildes Schuler
Publish in POETRY WORLD, JUNE 2010 INDIA