A Formula for Disparate Contraries (I, II, III)

Written January 2010
Author: Parrish Ravelli
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I. Measurement

Wage is defined as the value of what we provide.
Yet value, in any circumstance

Can only be measured by adjacent quantifiers.
(many of which trickle down to money

though not always currency). If not defined by oneself
or another, what then?

How parallel is a scale of intrinsical degree?
What is my time, my minutes-hours worth

to me,
as compared to what I am paid?


II. That Addition of Grace

In this world, we are denominators
of those things created

and those things bestowed upon us:
science, religion, art.

We are meant to unite,
yet we strive to be distinguished,

set above, separated. We can succeed
under a common desire for progress,

a common passion for beauty,
through an uncommon measurement of success.

And what has been accomplished
without Grace,

the absence of which creates
a culture of stagnant progression.


III. The Formula

I am to X
as You are to X

creates a cultural imbalance
and injects politics into personal expression.

Instead, I am to X
as You are to Y,

with the addition of Grace ,
creates a formula of social and cultural liberty,

a universal disposition of progress
and empowerment.

Society does not exist to measure greatness,
but rather to engage mediocrity.