Who’s Wrong, What’s Wrong?

When you hear someone call out in pain
Do you assume there’s something wrong with them
That needs to be put right?
.
A lack of resilience
A screw loose somewhere
A basic design fault
A deficient sense of humour
A failure to adapt,
Keep calm and carry on
Regardless
.
Or do you wonder
What’s gone wrong for them
That calls for attention?
.
A good slave
In a good slave-owner’s eyes
Is one who does what they are told
Without complaint
.
So, who’s wrong, what’s wrong
When a slave calls out in pain?
.
Is it the slave,
The slave-owner,
Or a pervasive attitude of mind
That thinks there’s nothing wrong
With slavery?
.
Oppression comes in many guises
And disguises
That make what’s intolerable
Seem reasonable –
Just the way life is and has to be
For those who serve the Master
By decree
.
Until and unless someone can’t bear enough
And cares and dares enough
To call out in pain
From living this nightmare
So far adrift from ‘living the dream’ it promised to be
And new-found voices gather around
In spirited company
Questioning not who’s wrong, but what’s wrong