EAST IS EAST AND WEST IS WEST

EAST IS EAST AND WEST IS WEST


‘East is East and West is West’,
Did say Rudyard Kipling.
He did have reason to say
Such an obvious thing.

Saying so, he probably
Admitted this one fact:
Culture and religion will
Ever remain intact.

Whenever the West tried to
Suppress the Orient,
It had to retreat somehow,
With reason to repent.

Whether India, China,
Iraq, Afghanistan,
It had to quit, even, the
Country called Vietnam.

One wonders why self-proclaimed
Human rights champions
Justify evil designs
To win Eastern nations.

Why can’t they confine themselves
To their respective shores?
Why inside other countries,
They must extend their chores?

Is it the Gospel or oil
That sets them on their course--
One to be spread, other grabbed,
By guile or by brute force?



* Rudyard Kipling’s The Ballad of the East and West: Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently ...
www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/1457/poem3.htm

* Written in 7-6-7-6 format

M C Gupta
10 October 2004

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This poem elicited an interesting correspondence, reproduced below.

RESPONSE FROM A BLACK CASE—

In your review for "EAST IS EAST AND WEST IS WEST" you said:
hey im not saying its a bad poem but you must not be an american by birth becauser if you were you would not have written this poem and by blaming the "west" for the problems of the east aint gonna hepl because that is all we have tried to do not hurt help man look up the facts our president wants to free the iraqis and the afghanis not take over thier country like the people who held thier country until we liberated it im sdorry as a poem its good but the message is wrong
In response to your review

REPLY--

It is my serious advice to you that you should:

1.Try to write proper and correct English;

2.Appreciate that the west and the US are not synonymous;

3. Realize that your comments about Bush are out of place;

4. Know the basic rules of reviewing an item--You review and rate the item on objective criteria, not your own subjective criteria. You find the poem good but rate it the lowest because you don't like it as a Westerner. Is that how the Nobel and the Booker are awarded?

5. Learn a bit more of world history, geography and politics.

You have displayed nothing but your ignorance and arrogance, two things for which the Americans are famous / notorious for [As revealed by properly conducted surveys].

M C Gupta

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RESPNSE FROM A BLUE CASE—[Wind in the Wings]

I'll not give you a 1.0 like the first person to read this, although I did give it a moments serious thought.

I think that most "Westerners" will be deeply insulted by this poem - I know I am. The whole world looks at the US with disgust, but who do they turn to when they need help or money? Things would be much different if we'd close our borders and our wallet! I look at the East, mostly the Middle East, with confused sadness. They've not the intellect or patience to solve their own internal problems, and violence is all they know.

But, putting all that aside, I find this poem stilted, stiff and somewhat forced.

You may keep your 75 gp's for the review.

REPLY—

I am glad that a moderator has more charitable disposition than a commoner.

Can you please quote a word, phrase or sentence from my poem which is objectively non-factual?

I believe the policy of writing.com is to encourage reviewing based upon assessment of the literary merit of the item, not upon one's subjective views of honour or insult.

As regards the gift points, they are not meant as bribe for flattering reviews. I am sure a moderator does not have to be reminded of this basic fact. Gift points are given in appreciation of giving an honest review. By returning the gift points, you are indirectly admitting that you did not give an honest review.

M C Gupta

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RESPONSE FROM A YELLOW CASE—

Subject: East is East...
Date: 14:25:02 05/07/2006
From: ABC (17)

MC, how are you?

I've opted not to rate your item because I do not believe I can do it in a fair
and impartial manner.

It is difficult to believe that your piece does not make direct reference to
America when you alude to Afghanistan and Iraq, not to mention Vietnam.

As an American, I cannot help but be offended when you suggest that our designs
are evil. Evil is mass graves. Evil is the systematic rape and murder of
thousands of people by the North Vietnamese Army.

I will not be so brash as to say we are without sin, or as to proclaim us human
rights champions.

I will state this fact: We give ten times more money to humanitarian aid than
any other country in the world.

I say that not to brag, but to bring to the forefront that this "fact" seems to
be commonly overlooked--or worse--completely and intentionally ignored.

We live in a time where it is difficult to write of religion or politics
without backlash. As an educated man, surely you can see it is unreasonable to
expect none from items which stir emotion and controversy.

I do hope you're not receiving too many negative responses.

Keep writing, perhaps someday we can live in a world that lives in peace.

God bless you and yours--much love—ABC

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REPLY:

Dear ABC,

I admire your self-restraint in not rating this item for the admitted reason that you are unable to do so in a fair and impartial manner. Such honesty is exemplary.

It is pretty obvious to any reader that I am making reference to the two major Western powers, one that has been, and the other that is. India and China were both dominated by the British, who had to quit both nations, which are now powers in their own right. Both have great and ancient cultures, which may be, superficially, eclipsed for a while, but which can’t be killed. The British learnt it the hard way. Likewise, Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam have their own distinctive social and political cultures and no country, US or any other, has any right to disturb or destroy that. The talk of evil, mass graves, or systematic rape and murder in any country cannot be the excuse for any other country to bomb the former. Human right violations are to be tackled through established national and international/UN channels. It is high time the US stops seeing itself as the world watchdog or global cop.

Regarding the statement: “We give ten times more money to humanitarian aid than any other country in the world”, it would be better for US to first meet its committed UN obligations [UNESCO, UNICEF etc.], in discharging many of which, as you would find from records, the US has faltered. It is much easier to fund a small country directly and then hold it by the neck and make it do its bidding, at the threat of discontinuing aid. The banana republics and Pakistan are relevant examples. The price extracted by US for that “ten times more money” is continued suppression of democracy in those countries. BTW, much of that so called aid is in the form of money to buy US weapons and hire US consultants. Any serious analytical commentary by an impartial economist will substantiate this.

Lastly, I am not bothered about any backlash or negative comments from uninformed or prejudiced quarters. However, I always welcome informed, serious, point-by-point, factual refutation of my statements. That is what serious debate is all about. I am neither a poet, nor a politician, nor a propagandist. I am a retired professor of medicine, who has, post-retirement, obtained his Master’s in Law and enrolled with the Bar as an advocate. I use the medium of poetry for expressing my views which I am ever ready to change when presented with cogent evidence to the contrary.

I thank you for your straightforward approach. This response is in the same vein.

M C Gupta