Defenceless and Waiting

I open my palms,
And drop all defences,
Weapons that clatter to the floor,
But you keep coming at me,
To leave feints and whirls, ducks and dives,
We can play this game all day,
If you really want to,
If you really want to,
All those hours of sweaty practise,
Through raining blows,
Now you see me, now you don't,
We can play this game all day,
If you really want to,
If you really want to,
Yet outside the sun is shining,
The birds are singing,
God is creating in all his glory,
Children are crying for a better world,
Yelling for us to stop it,
Stop it now you foolish fighting men,
If you really want to,
If you really want to,
For a pregnant future awaits your choice,
If you really want it,
If you really want it.


(I was talking to a friend last week who is focussing her coaching work on 'helping Type A's achieve results without creating collateral damage'. Our conversation reminded me of this poem which is a metaphor for working with 'Alpha Mammalians'. Often such leaders are male but not exclusively so. This type of leader tends to want to 'fight' with you, if not physically then mentally. Everything is a competition and everything leads to either domination or being dominated, to win or lose, to victory or defeat. This is the only 'lens' through which they appear to view the world. With many years of t'ai chi training, I am familiar with t'ai chi as a self-defence technique and the poem visualises me employing self-defence techniques to avoid being 'defeated' but getting very tired of this 'game' to the point of giving up ('I open my palms, And drop all defences, Weapons that clatter to the floor'). Beyond this point, you just use feints, side-steps and sleight of hand to avoid being 'hurt' - again ,this shoud be interpreted at the emotional and soulful level even though it is presented in physical language. Meanwhile, outside of this energetic cameo, the world is in a mess and there are many, many problems that need to be solved through getting beyond the 'win/lose' paradigm. A different future is possible but the poem questions the 'will' of the alpha mammalian ('If you really want it'). Does the alpha mammalian simply enjoy fighting too much to give it up on behalf of a more sustainable future? We shall see. If you enjoyed this poem then you may also enjoy reading the article 'Coaching the Alpha Mammalian - see http://www.121partners.com/downloads/Coaching_the_Alpha_Mammalian.pdf )