When What Matters Does Not Matter

 

 

When what matters does not matter

Is not uncommon, I hope see,

And you would be amazed to recognize

It is far more common than appears to be.

 

We pay a lot of attention, most noticeably,

To matters that are of minor import

And situations that urgently require attention

Receive comparatively little support.

 

When what matters does not matter

Makes minor of a major need,

It is like trimming a patient’s fingernails

While a major artery bleeds.

The minor clearly is the patient’s fingernails

While the major is his rapid blood loss,

However, as ridiculous as this analogy may seem

The practice bears an astronomical cost.

 

Take for example, a country’s economy

That is hemorrhaging out of control,

Yet the emphasis is on revenue generating

With no effort to plug the leaking hole.

 

Or, take for example, in a COVID environment

Where the urge is to revel and play mass,

This is far more needful to countless individuals

Than the importance of wearing a mask.

 

When what matters does not matter,

There can be irreversible fallout:

Like the many lives that can be lost

And the irreparable damage without doubt.

Many times, it is cited as collateral damage:

The price that is paid for the common good

But that is when what matters does not matter

As that which matters really should.

 

And what goes hand in hand with this theme

Is when what does not matter matters,

This is when we major on the minor

And the major is lost in meaningless chatter.

 

Like an assembled group of worthy experts

Vying to win the argument

And nothing or very little is accomplished

With much time and money spent.

 

Finally, when what matters does not matter

Is also applicable to the spiritual,

It matters so much regarding the temporal

But little thought is paid to the eternal.

 

When what matters does not matter

Is really thinking like a child

And, not in the purity of the sense as some deem,

But in a childish way as must be applied.

 

When what matters really matters

Matured thinking inevitably will result

But when what matters does not matter

We will be no better off than a cult.

 

It is essential to know the essentials

And to prioritize accordingly

For when what matters does not matter

This is the recipe for unrelenting misery.

 

Stewart Russell © January 12, 2021

 

The Vaccine

 

 

Almost two-thirds into 2020

Way in above our heads,

Corona virus came a knocking

“Hundreds of thousands” dead.

 

Struggling for a vaccine

In the shortest possible time

The race is on in many countries:

Trying to be the first to find.

 

Ordinarily it would take a while

Like five to seven years

But in just a matter of months

Vaccines suddenly appear.

 

 

Russia and China and others

And most recently the USA

That said it was not possible

Yet they have one today.

 

Other countries were criticized

For circumventing the process

But the mighty US of A

Is already running tests.

 

Clearly, they must be ahead

In any vaccine race

And given the billions to be accrued

All others must be outpaced.

 

It will take billions to process

But the profits will be great

So, the first authentic vaccine

Must be from the United States.

 

 

After all, they have the best:

The best of everything

And at the end of the competition,

Their praises we must sing.

 

The best scientists and doctors

And the best leaders also,

And when they produce the vaccine

The whole world will know.

 

All else will be a sham and a fake

Only one vaccine will work,

It must come from the USA:

The land of the greatest experts.

 

The vaccine is almost here,

It is coming in record time

And Corona virus will be no more

At least, for the first to get in line.

 

After all, 7 billion is a lot

First come must be served first

And those who have no means,

That would be their curse.

 

 

Watch out for the vaccine

It’s coming to a clinic near you,

That is if you matter, though,

Don’t worry; that’s just my view.

 

The vaccine may have originated

The same time as the virus

But since I am a conspiracy theorist

In me don’t put your trust.

 

When next you get a virus

Make sure you get the vaccine

I do not think it is too far away

Before we reach that scene.

 

Stewart Russell © August 2020