‘Two people were killed and 12 others injured after a man with a handgun opened fire on a bustling avenue in Toronto on Sunday night the police said. The gunman was later found dead.”

This headline this morning prompted today’s blog which is a slightly altered version of an August 1/14 post. It is actually the third time for posting this poem but somehow the times seem to warrant it.

In 1995 I wrote this poem called The Victim. It’s about crimes and war and unsound government, and the entire world possibly becoming victim to all of these things. And then thinking about the poem in a new light, I realized that it’s not only crimes and wars and unsound government that hurt people, but the way we treat each other on a daily basis. The sad part of all of this is the take heed part. If we don’t take heed, nothing changes, and if we do…can you imagine?

THE VICTIM

People dead

before their time,

victims

of some heinous crime.

Callous killers,

world’s worst foes,

victims

of God only knows.

Wars created

through sheer greed,

victims

of abnormal need.

Governments

whose rule a hoax,

victims

of the peoples’ votes.

Our planet Earth,

soon indigent,

victim

of our ignorance.

World, take heed!

The time has come

for remedy

lest you become

the victim.

©1995

Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement…Romans 12;3

This post is a slightly altered repeat of an August 1, 2014 blog.