(Photo: Christophe Hautier on Unsplash)
Do not take any of it
For granted.
Words that oft repeat are not
In of themselves
A fact,
Just because they are told
With sneering emphasis.
Beware of those who judge
A question
As treason,
As something one must
Automatically
Dismiss
Or risk being called
Disloyal
To a person,
For having fealty to the Truth
And the backbone
To speak.
So, yes, do
Question
Empty statements.
Do withhold permission
To deflect
Blame
From those who harm,
To those who point out
The abuse.
For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Question in 84 words
Na'ama Yehuda 
Yes and yes and yes, Na’ama. Wonderfully done.
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Thank you, my friend! XOXO
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xoxo
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Some of those feel like potential problem-causers, so … I’m appreciative when the meaning is communicated … 😉
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Yes, absolutely. 🙂
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😀 muah!
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MWAH!
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I make typo-kisses. 🙂
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Both ways are acceptable 😉
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uummmwahhh! 🙂
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LOL!
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Brava! Well said!
💚✨💚
Adele Ryan McDowell, Ph.D.
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XOXO
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I can only echo Dale here: yes, yes and yes, this and absolutely. So well done.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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🙂
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Wise words indeed. But sadly, not all have the strength nor ability to heed such guidance.
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And too many mistake an entitled excitement over supposed righteousness, and an unmasked idolizing of a person or idea, with misguided ‘injury to freedom’, facts be damned. …
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“But the king has no clothes.” Wonderful piece, Na’ama.
Reading this several times, I thought of my youth when asking the wrong question meant trouble for me.
And this song came to mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCSuATeLMs8
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Indeed, Bill, I think many of us know (or have known) situations and people and circumstances and institutions where asking questions was not only discouraged, but was punishable by shaming, ostracizing, blaming and worse. And, as many know, it is worse when the silencing itself is done under the guise of ‘freedom’ or ‘alternate facts’ or rejection of anything that does not match a cultish view of fealty-above-fact.
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True.
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A solid and cutting response to Deniers and those who hide behind the smoke of Conspiracy.
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Thank you … I’m not against questioning, and I think that having an inquiring mind is a good thing. What I find problematic is to repeat empty pseudo-questions (that are stated cyclically and cynically) while forbidding real questions and calling those who ask them, “traitors.” ….
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Yes. It’s been a side effect of the Covid pandemic and the Environmental Issues.
I suspect those who wholly deny the issues raised and shout the loudest are the ones who deep down are the most scared.
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Among other issues, yes, it can certainly apply … And I agree that often times those who end up shouting the loudest are doing so on behalf of those who use the former’s fears and worries to create confusion about what ought not be confusing at all …
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Well said.👏
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Agreed! I enjoyed reading this. One always has the right to pose the question, whatever the situation. How else would we ever enlighten ourselves? 🙂
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Yes! One should be able to ask questions – of others, as well as of themselves and of those they follow or look up to or think to consult with. Question everything, but also question why you question, and whether it is really a question (or your question) at all.
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Wow. I had to read that twice! 😂 But now I understand I can safely say I agree 😊. It’s a poem in itself.
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Ah, thank you for reading again! It is also okay for each person who reads to take from it whatever works for them, and disregard whatever does not. 🙂 We all make meaning the way we find best.
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