Two Men in Prison

Two Men in Prison:

Two men, now, are in prison.
But it is a question of who.

Let us take time to examine,
and try to determine which two.

Two friends relax on a sofa,
after having worked a long Week.

Watching cartoons as they munch on some food
while their dog lie asleep at their feet.

As the unwind, one reaches to find
a bag that is filled with an herb.

All this plant does is give them a buzz,
and make ideas wax quite absurd.

They light up and smoke, and tell a few jokes
unaware of the danger at hand.

For, just past the door, as though armed for war,
you'll find that two other men stand.

With a violent crash they bust the door down
and scream at the homeowners "Get on the ground!!"

Shock and confusion transform into pain
as they're blasted with pepper spray time and again.

One takes a tazer charge right to the head
and the dog which was barking has, since, been shot dead.

Bloody, bruised, and now bound, secure,
the two hapless smokers' fates are unsure.

I'm not very certain of what you might know,
perhaps you may think this is how things should go.

But, I've a new riddle. One more, just for fun.
Who's now, in prison - seven, or one?...

A man owns a farm.
He treats his cows well.

Keeps them healthy and clean,
and has fresh milk to sell.

Familiar customers, every day,
get good deals and a smile as they go on their way.

One fateful day, his business is stifled
by seven men armed with full-auto rifles

With shields, clubs and head to toe armor,
these seven men accost the lone farmer.

They confiscate butter and cheese from the store.
Slash the open the milk, pour it right on the floor.

At gunpoint he's forced in the back of a van,
and carted away, a now, broken man.

If you're not disturbed by what you just saw,
is it because you assume these were men of law?

There is a question you ought ask of this sight.
"Does law make this behavior alright?"

Morality's defined by who gets hurt,
not by the rules of men in starched shirts.

I never said they were smoking pot.
I never said that these men were cops.

But, if you still think that would make it OK,
there's one more thing that I have to say.

When right is decided by a badge and a suit
how people are treated soon becomes moot.

If we don't wake up and accept this as true,
the two who're in prison could be me and you.

Wow. I love this. It sums up how I see the pointless war on drugs, basically. Sure, if somebody is addicted to a substance that is making them do harmful things to other people then they should be removed from that situation until healed. But two men smoking pot and telling jokes, being met with such a ridiculous response? Silly hypocritical action, and doesn't work.

If our law was able to simply punish those who hurt others, and let everybody else be, it would be a better law. Instead, the law makers rebel against their own rules, telling us: do as we say, not as we do.

I really like that you brought this down to the point you were making by drawing attention to the assumptions we were making to rationalise the behaviour in the stories.

Well done.