Why Can’t Everyone Be Like Us?

 

 

Sometimes I sit and wonder

Why people can’t be like you and me,

Why they must be so different

I am sometimes at pains to see.

 

Like for example a friend of ours

We just don’t see eye to eye,

We scarcely look at one another

And prefer to pass each other by.

 

But take you on the other hand

I like how you and I get along,

It seems we seldom disagree

And so neither of us is wrong.

 

If only the world were like us

 Imagine the harmony there would be,

Everyone would see eye to eye

Just like you and me.

 

 

I looked at a puzzle the other day

And no two pieces were alike,

Yet they fit so smugly together

And everything appeared quite right.

 

The whole picture caught my eye

Togetherness was the theme,

Though each piece was different

They created a lovely scene.

 

That picture causes me to think

About how I started this poem:

That because people are so different

This would be the problem.

 

Well that puzzle proves me wrong

It is the other way around

For if variety is the spice of life

Then diversity must be found.

 

 

If everybody were like you and me

Then we would all be stuck in a rut,

Pigs appear to be quite the same

No wonder they are always in muck.

 

So, if at times we rub each other

It might be we’re coming together

Just like the pieces of that puzzle

That snugly fit to one another.

 

Stewart Russell (c) March 2019

 

Let Us Agree

 

 

Let us agree to disagree agreeably

When we can’t see eye to eye,

Whether it be politics, religion or civics

On our friendship we should rely.

 

It is of no use to lose a friendship

Over some argument

No matter how much you disagree

Or how much another’s view you resent.

 

We must cherish our friendships

If they really matter to us

And let the end of the argument

Signal the end of the fuss.

 

 

Disagreements need not be disagreeable

If you see what I mean

Although I have observed some

In which disputers actually screamed.

 

From a discussion to an actual noise,

From “greeing-in” to “greeing-out”

And one knew that this would happen

When they both began to shout.

 

“One convinced against his own opinion

Is of the same opinion still.”

Winning an argument and losing a friend

Is to my mind a horrible pill.

 

If that’s your version of winning

I beseech you, make a hasty retreat,

If disagreement must spoil a friendship

Then winning must also be defeat.

 

Therefore,

 Let us agree to disagree agreeably

When we can’t see eye to eye,

Whether it be politics, religion or civics

On our friendship we should rely.

 

Stewart Russell © October 20, 2020

 

 

Seeing Eye to Eye

 

 

There was this woman

That I heard about,

Her pastor was hard hearing

So she had to shout.

 

Let me explain this

And I will then move along,

First it appeared to me

They were both headstrong.

 

I knew neither of them

But that’s how it appeared,

Why they never agreed

At first that was not clear.

 

When she wanted change

He did not

And when change came about

She was hot.

 

From the time he came

This was the case,

All of his plans and ideas

She considered a waste.

 

I really must confess

That the pastor tried his best

But trying to meet her halfway

That was the ultimate test.

 

He tried on several occasions

He wanted to reconcile

But she wanted none of that

That was not her style.

 

She kept him at arm’s length

So that he never got close,

“I liked the other pastor,”

Some had heard her boast.

 

This went on for a while

And it became a real strain

Whereat the pastor decided

There must be a change.

 

He decided on a visit

“Yes,” he would go to her home

And after thinking a while

He decided to do it alone.

 

He asked one of the members

For directions to her home

And as I earlier indicated

He went there on his own.

 

He walked right up the path

That led to her door,

Every window was shut

Need I say more?

 

He decided there and then

She was not at home

But decided to call out

Rather than use his phone.

 

He called out and called out

But he heard no one,

“I’ll do one more thing,” he thought

“And then I’ll be gone.”

 

He stooped right down

To peep through the keyhole

When he heard her say,

“But pastor you are bold.”

 

The pastor paused a bit

And then he gave his reply,

“At least on this occasion,” he said

“We are seeing eye to eye.”

 

Stewart Russell © October 2018