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Sanity and Madness

This poem reexamines the human condition and the distortions of contemporary society through the contrasting concepts of “sanity” and “madness.” By measuring actions and values—such as life, conscience, truth, and dignity—it carefully draws distinctions between what is sane and what is not. Yet in its closing lines, it suggests that the boundary between the two may be perilously thin. In an age where madness increasingly permeates everyday life, the poem calls on us to continually question ourselves.

  

“Sanity and Madness”

 

To cherish life is sanity.

To toy with life is madness.

 

To follow one’s conscience is sanity.

To trample on conscience is madness.

 

To listen to dissent is sanity.

To suppress dissent is madness.

 

To discern right from wrong is sanity.

To count only profit is madness.

 

To follow divine teachings is sanity.

To profane the divine is madness.

 

To restrain emotion is sanity.

To let emotion run wild is madness.

 

To uphold dignity and fairness for all is sanity.

To discriminate and despise is madness.

 

To act with compassion is sanity.

To act with contempt is madness.

 

To understand gender with empathy is sanity.

To cling obsessively to rigid views of gender is madness.

 

To correct one’s mistakes is sanity.

To cling to hatred and deny them is madness.

 

To cultivate deeper insight is sanity.

To expose oneself in vulgar ignorance is madness.

 

To know one’s ignorance is sanity.

To remain unaware of one’s shamelessness is madness.

 

To believe in the power of words is sanity.

To wield words as violence is madness.

 

To question who one is is sanity.

To boast of who one is is madness.

 

To seek truth is sanity.

To distort truth and manipulate lies is madness.

 

To see victims as individuals is sanity.

To count them merely as statistics is madness.

 

Why can we not stop acts of madness?

Sanity and madness may, in truth,

be separated only by the thinnest line.

 

Written on April 7, 2026.

It has become increasingly difficult to resist the madness that pervades modern society.

 

 

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