A Questionnaire

Dear Friends,
I was listening to the Dianne Rehm Show on NPR this morning, and they were playing a rebroadcast from the November 30, 2009 episode. In this episode, she was interviewing author, poet, and farmer Wendell Berry. Berry was discussing his latest collection of poetry entitled Leavings. Along with other excerpts from this collection, Berry read the following poem that I think is some good food for thought.

Questionnaire

1. How much poison are you willing to eat for the success of the free market and global trade? Please name your preferred poisons.

2. For the sake of goodness, how much evil are you willing to do? Fill in the following blanks with the names of your favorite evils and acts of hatred.

3. What sacrifices are you prepared to make for culture and civilization? Please list the monuments, shrines, and works of art you would most willingly destroy.

4. In the name of patriotism and the flag, how much of our beloved land are you willing to desecrate? List in the following spaces the mountains, rivers, towns, farms you could most readily do without.

5. State briefly the ideas, ideals, or hopes, the energy sources, the kinds of security, for which you would kill a child. Name, please, the children whom you would be willing to kill.

--Wendell Berry