A Chesterton Poem

The World State by GK Chesterton confronts our tendency towards hypocrisy in love of ideals that contradict our actions.

The World State

Oh, how I love Humanity,

With love so pure and pringlish,

And how I hate the horrid French,

Who never will be English!

The International Idea,

The largest and the dearest,

Is welding all the nations now,

Except the one that’s nearest.

This compromise has long been known,

This scheme of partial pardons,

In ethical societies

And small suburban gardens-

The villas and the chapels where

I learned with little labor

The way to love my fellow-man

And hate my next-door neighbor.

-GK Chesterton

I came across this wonderful book in one of my favorite local used bookstores a few weeks ago and have been digging away at it since. This poem is a wonderful insight into what is far too common for so many of us: we love the idea of something but fail miserably at it in practice. Especially when the thing is so near in application to us. It’s one thing to love Humanity, it’s another to do more than grudgingly tolerate an annoying neighbor (something I’m blessed to not have at the present).