Pick Your Non-Fights Carefully

It is an old axiom to said that
'nature is red in tooth and claw',
where humans who think they are
above their animal origins invent
competitive origins for themselves.
There the strength of the weak is seen
in their ability to get out of the way
of those whose sense of their strength 
outweighs their sense of reason.

The actions of the weak, in retreat,
are in self defence more than mercy
but their acts are as near to mutuality
as humans get whilst seeking forgiveness.   
 

Is It To Reinforce Competition

That television 'entertains' us with quizzes?
It can't be out of wanting viewers
to be more enlightened-that woud mean
television being slow and reaching out
beyond itself into real worlds and history,
and providing booklets with references.

What I will never 'get' is why people think
distant competition is such a good.thing.
It must be to remind people too old
to remember what their exams were actually like
-and make them seem exciting with hindsight.