Reena’s Exploration Challenge #114

Welcome to another soul-searching week!

PROMPT

I will come straight to the point, because the topic cannot be cushioned in flowery words and smart expressions.

I choose the poem “Questionnaire” by Wendell Berry as a prompt. It is hard hitting, it is cold, it is dark, it is stark.

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, owns, 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.

Feel the anger, bitterness, disappointment dripping from the poet’s pen. Think what catastrophe can drive a person to write this. Think about the basest instincts of humanity pitted against the noblest, and the kind of conflicts it can lead to.

Let whatever it ignites in you flow like a lava. It can also be ice, a scenario of peace, meditative journaling that works like a soothing balm on the bruised soul. The format can be a memory, historical fact or fiction, story, poem, essay, video or a soul-stirring picture. There are absolutely no restrictions.

Write a post on your blog, and copy-paste the link here.

If you are choosing a pingback, please check if it has worked. There have been instances of pingbacks not working in the past. Tag it ‘Reena’s Exploration Challenge’ for easy location in the blog roll.

P.S. I apologize for taking you through this, yet want you to feel the anger. Feel free to skip the prompt if it generates discomfort. It will still succeed in opening a window of awareness.