Promises Promises

When barter was the currency
with which people paid for transactions
what was exchanged was not just the goods,
but the talk through which the deal was secured.
Verbal strokes were how we set up exchange rates.
The skills people had in their hands
was equalled in their choice of words.
They had to use all they had to extend the limits of life
In the poorest countries life and refugee camps life is still that way.
Amongst the rich, of whom I'm one, money and technology
have vastly extended the definition of  life. But increased ease
has reduced our life skills, and reduced the vitality of experience.
Instead of citizenship through trade, war, and everything else
as reasons for negotiation, our transactions are reduced
to paying each other off with government promises.