A Blow Against Banality

Josef Stalin justified
The reason hordes of Russians died.
One death, he allowed, is tragic,
But one million’s a statistic.

His better in wholesale slaughter,
Was the monstrous Adolf Hitler,
View his stats six times more loathsome,
At the Holocaust Museum.

His Nazi Funktionäre were servile,
The banality of evil,
As philosopher Hannah Arendt
Vilified them for what they weren’t.

For instance, kind and attentive,
Of threats to the peace, preventive.
Prepared to confront injustice.
Like what's on the rise among us.

In Wichita then Washington,
A white-racist lone assassin,
One hating abortion, one Jews
Killed for such hackneyed, banal views.

The Museum’s attentive guard
With the public its sole regard
Shot back and disabled its goon.
Alas not a moment more soon.

Guard Johns who had opened the door,
Grace his killer chose to ignore,
Confirmed another statistic.
When millions lament, it’s tragic.