Laurence Overmire - New Bottom Line

I’m not a communist. I’m not a socialist. I’m an ethical capitalist.
Is that an oxymoron?
Is it possible to be a salesman or a businessman
With integrity?

Or, to put it more simply,
Would anyone buy a used car if you told them the truth?
These are difficult questions.
But shouldn’t someone be asking them?
We’ve raised our children to compete.
The dollar is the prize.
All is fair in love and—just about everything else.
So is it any wonder the field is littered with losers?

Ethical capitalism.
The profit motive works. No question about that.
The problem is

Greed.

Greed is the knife that stabs deep in the backs of one’s fellows.
Self-interested profit for the few too often
Reaps untold suffering for the many.
The community of humankind is laid low in shame.
The harmonic balance of the Earth is
Disrupted.

Where are the visionaries to lead the world?
Powerful and influential men and women who see a
Future inclusive of all.
Those who understand
A dollar lost here and a dollar lost there
Is a victory not a defeat,
When brothers and sisters and children yet unborn
Remember with gratitude
The painful sacrifice
And honor the difficult

Choice.

Ethical capitalism?
Is it possible?
Of course it is.
Life is evolving.
New generations recognize
Money is just a plaything.
The new bottom-line is

Humanity itself.


(Previously published in Seeker Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 10, Oct '99; also published in 'Report From X-Star 10, ' by Laurence Overmire, Indelible Mark Publishing,2009.)

Laurence Overmire

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/new-bottom-line/