Contempt
Contempt, folks.
Contempt.
It’s the whole problem
Phobias and hatreds and prejudices
All deemed tolerant until they turn
Contemptuous.
You have to ask,
What is the benefit of contempt?
What is the purpose of shame?
Correcting bad behavior, right?
What constitutes a bad behavior?
Laws, social order, but most of all–
Perception.
Each individual’s contempt a lone wolf operating
In stealth, no one truly shares contempt
With anyone else, as it can always be weaponized
In a last resort– intimacy, too falls victim
To contempt, a way of distancing yourself
A way of distinguishing
Me vs them.
Everyone, absolutely everyone
Is capable of contempt, participates in it.
The tricky thing is realizing
What’s helping, and what’s simply
Mean– by which I mean
Demeaning, aggressive and
Purposeless. If you want to inspire change
In yourself, or in others
There are a million things you can be
Besides your worst instinct.