Straw Men Are All Going to Die

 You prop up a straw man argument

when the real argument you are fighting against

is hard to defeat.

You replace their argument with your own version

a version that is a parody of the original argument

minus any wit

but bearing a strong scent of desperation, 

a ripe odor like rotting vegetation.

You smirked 

when they said

people will die

and answered, 

We are all going to die.

You knew that none of them were ignorant of death. 

But you pretended your opponents

were so stupid 

that they actually didn’t know 

humans are mortal. 

You propped up your first straw man, 

Who announced, 

People live forever! 

That’s a pretty easy argument

to knock down.

You doubled down when they objected, 

standing in the tombstones

issuing a sneered apology 

comparing their supposed ignorance of inevitable death

To belief in the Toothfairy. 

Your second straw man:

Your opposition believes the Toothfairy is real. 

A straw man blended with a non-sequiter. 

But you weren’t done 

Producing staw men. 

You then invited people 

To seek eternal life

By embracing your Lord and Savior,

Jesus Christ. 

I suspect you are embracing 

a straw man Jesus, 

a misrepresentation 

of the man recorded in the gospels.

I’ve seen a lot of versions of Jesus 

put forth by many different people, 

but nihilist Jesus is a new one. 

I don’t recall Jesus 

smirking at the lame and the leperous, 

the blind and the bleeding,

and saying, Tough luck.

Can’t help you.

We are all going to die.

To say everyone is going to die 

Is truth. 

But context matters. 

You were saying that because everyone is going to die,

we don’t need to care about them or heal them 

or care about their quality of life 

while they are here. 

We just need to let them die. 

Embracing eternal life,

we can ignore this one. 

With every person Jesus met,

he showed concern, 

not just for their souls, 

but for their very earthy bodies as well.

for their health,

for their well-being, 

physically and mentally. 

This set of blind eyes.

This rotting flesh. 

This bent back. 

This set of motionless legs. 

If you are concerned about the afterlife, 

you might want to review the parable

of the sheep and the goats.

You know the part. 

God separates the sheep from the goats

and tells the sheep they are inheriting 

The Kingdom of God 

Because they - among other things - 

Took care of Jesus 

When he was sick. 

And they don’t recall doing that, 

and Jesus tells them 

That whatever they do for the least of these - 

Like, for instance, caring for the sick - 

you do it for me. 

When you callously looked at that crowd 

And said We are all going to die

You said it to Jesus. 

Tough luck, Jesus, 

I’m not helping you when you are sick.

You are going to die. 

A straw man can be

Something you prop up

In place of your opponents’ real argument.

A straw man (or woman)

Can also be a front man 

Used to cover up

Dirty dealings.

A straw man (or woman) 

Can also be defined

As a person without substance 

Or integrity.

It seems that in making

Straw men so often,

You have become one yourself.

Or maybe you were made of straw

To begin with

And straw simply creates more straw. 

You sent your straw man argument 

and your straw man Jesus 

out to dance in front of a real argument. 

the real argument is this:

we are supposed to care for

and take care of each other. 

We aren’t supposed to treat each other

as being as disposable 

as straw.