Pick

What is it, if not addiction?

Obsesssion? No, that’s not quite it.

Compulsion comes a bit closer.

Dan used to say you had to think

You were choosing and had to choose

For society to function.

Bob didn’t like that. Went further,

Insisting there was no choosing

And people got hurting trusting it—

He was sort of a George that way,

Except, for Catholicism,

Substitute belief in free will,

And, instead of, There is no God,

And Mary is His mother, swap,

There is no free will, and we must

Come to accept that as the fact.

Then we can organize better

With less harm to each other. Sure.

You’re of the opinion, probably

Not freely chosen, no freedom

To choose, not even to not choose.

Where does that leave you? Honestly,

Just more annoyed than anything.

You’d like to stand apart from it,

But you live more like Clive than like

Dan, Bob, or George, waking again

To realize you’re doing it,

Trying to make good selections,

Smart decisions, wisely choosing,

And then you make another note

To yourself—At least stay aware,

From henceforth be aware of this

Delusion that you’re choosing this!