They Walk Among Us

 

 

Uppers and Downers

Do you know who these are?

They walk among us

Both near and far.

 

Everyone has a philosophy

Whether expressed or not,

Some live by it daily

While others talk a lot.

 

For some the glass is half empty

For others it is half full,

Some are particularly discreet

While some are raging bulls.

 

For some the glass is empty

Some don’t even have a glass,

They are many and varied

But they are found in either class.

 

Some people are mostly up

While some are mostly down,

Some are neither of these two

Not many of these around.

 

 

Some have nothing good to say

Others: nothing bad,

Some are sad about everything

Others: mostly glad.

 

What you do most frequently

Determines who you are,

Whether an upper or downer

You are your own star.

 

Selfishness is the default

For all of human nature,

A quick look at the world around…

And there! You get the picture.

 

But within that general scope

There is a continuum,

It’s like a ladder, if you please,

Where we move up and down.

 

An upper will lift others up

A downer will pull them down,

And they that are neither up nor down…

Let’s call them the circus clowns.

 

 

What is your philosophy?

Where on the ladder do you fit?

Are you pulling up or pulling down?

Or would you rather quit?

 

There is a positive philosophy

A poisonous one as well,

Both are at work within us

Ever since our fore parents fell.

 

The devil fuels the downers

Jesus is the lifter-up,

The hope for them at the bottom

And also for those at the top.

 

You may think you’re not included

Because you’re neither up nor down,

But he is the hope for the middle

Yes, Jesus includes the clown.

 

Yes, they all walk among us

And we among them too,

That’s the world in which we live

And believe me; it is true.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2019