Yes and No...From 1999 In The 'Gap-DGB' Archives...

This 'pseudo-poem', written by me about 1999, builds from the Fritz Perls 'Gestalt Prayer'...extending it a little further -- dgb, March 21-22, 2009.


Yes and No

I am I.
And you are you.
I am not you,
And you are not me,
This should seem obvious,
But it's not.
A bird wasn't meant to be a fish.
And a fish wasn't meant to be a bird.
This should seem obvious,
But it's not.

It all starts with authentic choice-making,
With the choice between 'yes' and 'no'.
'Yes' to state my interest, my attraction,
My likes, my wishes, my passion...
And 'no' to state my dislikes, my boundaries...

To respect another person means to respect their interests,
Their attractions, their likes, their wishes, their passions,
And it means respecting their dislikes, their boundaries,

Not to respect a person's wishes and boundaries,
Their freedom to make an authentic choice,
Even though we may not like this personal choice,
Is not to respect the person,
The person's individual differences.

Let's all respect each other,
Respect each other's individual right,
And our own individual right,
To make our own authentic choices,
And to be accountable for wherever they take us...

From moment to moment,
Transaction to transaction,
Encounter to encounter,
To say 'yes' or 'no',
And to mean it.

-- dgb, Undated (Written approximately in 1999, slightly modified and updated March 21st-22nd, 2009.)

-- David Gordon Bain