WILDING

WILDING
Something our yellow lab
used to do the first year of his life
without warning

he would run helter skelter
knocking over anyone in his path
it lasted for a few minutes

then he would settle to normal
he mostly out grew the behavior 
but every so often he wilds again.

WILDING
A word to describe
the flash mob in Hollywood
forty young men
running helter skelter
through the town

knocking over pedestrians
stealing their i phones
grabbing merchandise
from stores and vendors

claiming the night
to create havoc and destruction
some say a harmless prank
of adolescence causing no real damage

a spontaneous event
made possible through technology
a slap on the wrist should suffice

WILDING
Is it mindless teenage mayhem?
Is it a form of protest?
Is it an action that must be punished?
Will the outrage from the community
pull in the reigns or will it perpetuate

and increase to complete anarchy?
What about the victims
of theft or violence
what recourse do they have?

Rules only work
when they apply
equally to all
and consistent consequences
for those who break them. 

WILDING
Wilding is part of our heritage
periods of chaos and disorder
the Wild West, the Civil War

and reconstruction after the bedlam.
Order was created by agreement
rules clearly defined and implemented.

Wilding seems to be occurring
world-wide, Syria, Egypt, Greece
and America, the youth demand
more from their leadership;

education, financial opportunity,
a future worth living into,
not a dictatorship nor corporate
greed, not a police state
nor existential nihilism.