being alive--d.h. lawrence

The only reason for living is being fully alive;

and you can't be fully alive if you are crushed by secret fear,

and bullied with the threat: Get money, or eat dirt! -

and forced to do a thousand mean things meaner than your nature,

and forced to clutch on to possessions in the hope they'll make you feel safe,

and forced to watch everyone that comes near you, lest they've come to do you down.

 

 

Without a bit of common trust in one another, we can't live.

In the end, we go insane.

It is the penalty of fear and meanness, being meaner than our natures are.

 

 

To be alive, you've got to feel a generous flow,

and under a competitive system that is impossible, really.

The world is waiting for a new great movement of generosity,

or for a great wave of death.

We must change the system, and make living free to all men,

or we must see men die, and then die ourselves.