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