Scarcity

Scarcity ((a poem Arnold wrote in the late 1960s)
The economy
The philosophy
The concept
of
scarcity

We define as valuable
Those things
Which are difficult to attain
Food
Shelter
Mates
Education
Recognition
Praise

Conversely
If we hold a thing to be valuable
It will be difficult to attain

Even if we must make it so
By our own doing

Things
We hold dear
Life
Liberty
And the
Pursuit
Of happiness

We make scarce
Lest they become plentiful
And lose their value

As if there were
A limited supply
To give anything away
Is to decrease its value
There is plenty
Of advice
Everybody
Give it away
Something for something
We are in Viet Nam

Something for nothing
Ghettos still exist

For something
Soon
They
May not

Even if some of these things
Are true
It is impossible
To build
On negative statements

But what positive statements
Can be made
We have
The ability
To change

An ability as innate
As intelligence

Facts keep us
From seeing
The truth

Complete acceptance
Stifles progress

Then it is only on this ability
To change

That we must build

What prompts us to action
When at every turn
Progress seems
Thwarted
We move when we are threatened
But how do we know
That we are

Just as in the body
There are sensors
These individuals exist in the
Group

If enough sensors are affected
The entire group moves

Perhaps we move
Due to a need
For cooperation
Rather than
Sympathy
But the Group moves

A key
Is this ability to
Cooperate
Which comes as a
Results of our
Gregarious nature

What we lack is a
Vehicle that can
Relate
From
Specialist to specialist
The needs
Of the whole

This vehicle can only be
Another sort
Of individual

One who is able to establish
Standards
Can tap resources
Pertinent to particular
Problems

And realize that in many
Situations
The philosopher
May be as necessary as
The engineer
And
The carpenter
As
The designer