Time To Look In The Mirror

'The entire world already knows That we water- boarded the prisoners' The entire world also knows that Our police shot the unarmed man With raised hand And policeman was not indicted The whole world knows Police kept a man in chokehold Even after listening that he can't breathe The whole world knows that Our citizens are getting paranoid Can't see the difference between An adult and child's playground activities The world knows that Our government spies on Its own citizens with out permission The list goes on and on and on Stirs the conscience even from a distance May be it's a time for some soul searching To remember and stand by the great principles That define us as a nation To aspire and hold ourselves together In forward march for life, liberty And justice for all It is time to look in the mirror And point to that ugly serpent Of lies and deceit drunk with power Raising its head steadily To corrupt that loving image of Democracy Loved and admired by the entire world No matter how much we boast about Being a great nation Setting high standard of values For others to follow We are still humans and fallible With room for improvement How long can we hide behind The words like enhanced interrogation Or collateral damage or self defense The flowery language of sophisticated intellect Invented and renewed every day To hide and shrink from responsibility Nothing can set us free from the painful truth Burning in our national consciousness But to accept our wrong doings Examine and correct our mistakes And walk on the path of virtue With a heart fearless and confident And recognize with humility That we are not the sole guardian of values That arrogance simply tarnishes Even the most cherished virtues. The quote is from Senator John McCain's speech on congress floor defending the release of 'Torture Report' on 12.9.2014. The poem came as a reaction of some recent and old events that have challenged the core values of American life.