Geezer Jihad

Low income seniors are growing in numbers even as their cost of living – the cost of existing, of affording a minimum of those things absolutely necessary for life – is overtaking their meager incomes.
The homeless elderly will be an increasingly important group as America ages in the next decade.

GEEZER JIHAD

The Geezer Jihad is on the move to Washington, D.C.,
Marching onward, senior soldiers, in rows of two and three.
With their walkers and their wheelchairs, they should arrive at dawn,
Down Pennsylvania Avenue, and on to the White House lawn.

With their oxygen tanks and IV drips and orthopedic shoes,
They’re ready to wage a dirty war and they don’t intend to lose.
Their lap robes hide their arsenals of weapons of mass destruction -
A deadly store of missiles of their own design and construction.

No guns, no bombs, no tanks, no planes, no loss of life or limbs –
They’re armed with slings and ready to fling a barrage of used Depends.
Resistance will be useless. They’re prepared to stand their ground.
And if their demands will not be met…they’ll turn the White House brown.

As more and more of the old and poor are forced out onto the street,
Or share their cat’s food because it’s cheap and they’ve bills that they can’t meet,
Or do without meds that they need to live, but can’t afford to buy,
The powers that be pretend not to see, or ask, “Why don’t they just die?”

“Why should we have to pay for them? They’re not our responsibility.
They think because they’re old they’re entitled to financial priority!
It’s their own fault they’re in trouble – they didn’t make a plan.
Now their income doesn’t stretch, and they expect a helping hand!”

“Besides, it’s money we don’t have. It’s all going to Iraq.
Just what do they expect us to do? Bring the soldiers back?
They need to face the facts, tighten their belts, and live within their means.
It’s not like they need to go anywhere, and there’s a lot of protein in beans.”

“Goodwill clothes are good enough for bodies ugly and old;
If they layer on enough of them, they’ll hardly notice the cold.
And so what if their medications are more than they can afford?
Why should the rest of us pay for them? It’s time we cut the cord!”

So they’re out in force – a million man march of the old and the infirm,
They’re on parade, they’ll be seen and heard, and make the politicos squirm.
They’re limbering up their pitching arms, they’re not going to back off and quit.
They’re not going to take it any more; they’re throwing back the shit.

They’ve been living at the bottom end of a great national disparity,
But all that they ask is freedom from pain, a little comfort, and dignity.
And if you ask them how long it will take before they achieve their ends:
“It depends on whether they listen to us. If not, ……it just ……Depends.”