Soapbox

Ask Nicely

Moses tried asking.
He and Aaron went to Pharaoh and asked for justice.
They respectfully pointed out that it was impossible for the people to get ahead
when there weren't enough jobs, and the ones they had
paid slave wages,
said all they were asking for was a chance to do better
but Pharaoh sent them away.

So they came up with a plague of frogs,
which really snarled up traffic around the malls
and made Pharaoh's wives late for their brunch.
They told him that their children were stuck in crumbling schoolswith no books.
Pharaoh's wives really, really  hated frogs
so he assured Moses and Aaron that he'd see what he could do…
and then as soon as they were out of earshot,
Pharaoh cut school lunches instead.

Moses  tried locusts,
brrought petitions signed by just about everyone,
said  he really had to insist
that surely now Pharaoh could see that he had to
stop locking people up for stealing food
when they were hungry!
But Pharaoh called him a thug and sent him on his way.
So Moses returned with boils, and gnats
demanded an end to predatory banking that was
making Pharaoh's friends rich but
more and more of the people were homeless
In reply Pharaoh just had the people tested for drugs
before they could get their portion of grain.

And Moses spoke with thunder, and with darkness
marching to the palace with torches and signs,
cried out for an end to murder in the streets without punishment
And even though his advisors warned him
that desperate people can do desperate things,
Pharaoh said that the slain
had surely done something wrong or they wouldn't be dead.

Moses tried asking nicely
and waiting for the ones with all the power to give him what he needed
but  it wasn't until there was blood in the houses of Egypt
that Pharaoh admitted that maybe that
maybe it was time to set the people free.

Riots are ugly, destructive things.
but sometimes people burn cars and throw bricks
and start riots
because the locusts and the frogs
and the gnats and the boils and the thunder and blood
just weren't getting through.