Is Money Everything?

Is money everything? It is most diffidently not. Although, this does not mean that having it is a bad thing. I’ve grown up knowing people who had a lot of money and those who didn’t, and I’ve found that people from each category have just as many faults. It is true that people sometimes do amass their furtunes at the expence of others. Paying the people that work for them amounts that are unfairly small. They will sometimes do things that are wrong simply for the money. I’ve learned to not judge people by what they have, because in the long run the tangible things don’t matter. It is a person’s actions that make them. Therefore anyone working below them that works honestly should be paid honestly. If money helps a person get what they want out of life, then they should go after it. As stated in the United States Declaration of Independence, people have the right to the pursuit of happiness. People should pursue what makes them happy, whether it involves money or not. As long as they don’t do it in an immoral way than they should be congratulated for getting what they want.

I Carry What Remains

The men with blank faces load me
And the women start to cry
Telling her sons they’ll be just fine
Mother tells a white lie

Yanks come though chasing our heroes
They take all that they can heave
Our home was broken and burned last night
I guess it’s time to leave

Bags, blankets, and chairs I carry
The young boys sit on some stools
Everyone else walks beside me
As I am pulled by two mules

We’re headed for a safer place they say
Their hands still trembling with fear
We slowly start on down the road
For the yanks we still can hear

We’ll have to start our lives over
In a new town, a new place
Wishing this was all a bad dream
Father says “pick up the pace”.

They Cut Beneath Me

Here they come broken and bleeding
Young men with the luck of Cain
Held down by the sawbones
I see all their pain

The pickets hope these were Jonahs
As the screams reach each ear
Scared of death they are not
It is this that they fear

Sawbones do as their name suggests
Praying that they won’t fail
Seeing it all each man knows
Beneath me is not top rail

Giving a man as much whiskey as they can
They tell him he’ll be alright
Drunk and brave he slurs out a phrase
“When can I go back and fight?”

Finishing the job they reach in a haversack
And pull out a simple housewife
Patching him up with a homespun bandage
They say "he’ll keep his life".

A Fight Between Brothers

I have an older brother named Johnny. We have a long history of confrontation and opposition. I tend to be rather calm, while he is known to have spurts of obnoxiousness. One day we were arguing about something I can’t even remember. To end the pointless argument which had lasted for over five minutes, I simply turned around to walk away. My brother on the other hand didn’t want it to end. He shoved me from behind in a way that whiplashed my neck. Now I also didn’t want this to end. Johnny had turned a verbal argument into something physical, and I was not going to let it go. I turned and kicked him in the back as hard as I could. He then grabbed my shoulders and started to knee me in the stomach repeatedly. Suddenly he slammed my back to the ground and while on top of me, raised his right fist to deliver a final blow. Knowing that I had to avoid this strike, I waited for the right moment. As he brought down his fist I moved my head to the right and shot my left arm up. I used my left arm to deflect his striking right hand, although it still nicked the top of my head. I then punched at him with my reaching right fist that connected with his nose. It wasn’t a solid hit, but I was able to make him lose his balance enough that I was able to throw him off of me. We both stood and shouted our final insults and accusations as to who was a fault. We both then turned around and walked in opposite directions. One thing I learned from this was to not argue with someone who has a made up mind. It took a while for us to be on good terms with each other again, but we were able to get past it and fights like these ceased to happen. His moving out a year and a half ago also helped.