News on TV and the Internet,
aggressive territorial claims, showing off strong firepower.
Putting innocent people at risk as they suffer and cry for peace,
and the desire to feed the greed is the sole one to blame.
Politics, power, and influence are adding to the flame.
Warships and jet fighters form a strong claim over the land and seawater.
Maybe to be known as the strongest is to get ahead among the rest –
but with those deadly weapons, there is no humane reason.
What happened to the promise of upholding peace?
Where is contentment?
Earth is not our property.
Natural gases, minerals, and fishing areas:
these resources are useless
when greed is always on top of everything.
Think of those who live in a place
without even enough sources of food and water.
Isn’t it a shame to be shameless?
Fighting and hurting one another,
for selfish gain and pursuit of wealth.
May we all be reminded that we were born to be fighters –
to fight for each other –
But who would listen to me?
I am not a leader or politician.
Yet, I put my voice in writing,
hoping someday this might help
to fight against our greed and injustice.
Because if I don’t do anything or say a word about this –
Am I an accomplice?
Jelly Masinag
Jelly Masinag is a Filipino from the Philippines. She is not a professional writer, but she loves writing short poems and quotes. She wrote “Am I an Accomplice?” as a reflective poem on how she feels about the threatening, aggressive territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea. She believes in the power of writing: a peaceful way to express one’s thoughts about what is happening in our world.
Jelly’s first ever published poem was “Today is our Only Way”, of which was published by the International Human Rights Art Festival under IHRAM Publishes Literary Magazine 2022 (07/16/2022)