When I read “your two thinkers are very
discredited in the eyes of most of us” 
after a friend had posted a story on poverty
in America I found myself sitting here
with a frown between my brows, 
trying to puzzle it out.

Who are “the most of us” of which you
speak? Most of who? Most of whom?
And are you including me in your us?
Because I actually want to read what
my friend has to share about poverty
in America. I might learn something new.

Complacent, comfortable, isolated, insulated,
we sit each in our homes, assuming
everyone thinks exactly the same way
we do. We turn our televisions on to
the usual channels and listen to the same
old perspectives, and nod our heads

in contented, unquestioning agreement.
And our ponds grow stagnant without fresh,
tumbling brooks stirring up the waters
our joints get calcified and rigid as we sit
in our easy chairs, nodding our heads, lulled
by the same phrases parroted over and over…
– Karen Molenaar Terrell

“The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling away.”
– Mary Baker Eddy