You were told so many times.

You were told so many times.

On your mother’s knee,

Even as a baby,

When learning to walk,

From the earliest moment

Before you could talk

And as you grew older,

Stretching out, feeling bolder,

Leaving kinder garden

On your first day at school

Or the long journey home

The first time you walked

All on your own,

Even at the beach,

When barely out of reach,

Beware of strangers.

Never take sweets

Or treats,

Keep to the main streets,

Walk right back

And never

Dilly dally on the way.

It is a logical response

A survival instinct from olden times

When outsiders

Were a threat to the tribe.

Only the strong and careful survived

It is an ingrained fear of difference

That has been the foundation

Of every single nation.

And whilst it can

Unite and combine

The most disparate clan,

It also creates a natural

Distrust of the outsider

And non-conformist,

An Einstein, Warhol

Or Quentin Crisp,

Who can bring something

Different to our lives

If we let them.

But the growth of hate

Goes hand in hand

With misplaced trust

And in the end,

We tar the good and the bad

With one and the same brush.

Without thinking it through

All we seem to do

Is make matters worse,

If we disenfranchise the

People we fear,

Keep them at arm’s length,

Anywhere but here,

If all we do is moan

And make a big fuss,

We will

Inevitably create the monster

We fear the most.

And one day

It may just

Rise up to destroy us.