Many have answers
They can pontificate and preach
They come from all walks of life
And every side of the street
Whether in the ghetto
Or the suburbs
All want to be heard

Everybody has something to say
But many are not hearing
Because they are not caring
Because they have no understanding
Because they have not
Walked in their shoes
Sat where they've sat
Experienced life as the other
Thus they are at arm's length
And not a brother
This is quite common
Many are aloof
Unable to relate
They're hard hearted and uncouth
Pharasidical and reprobate.

What a terrible thing
To think you know all the answers
It's amazing how much you learn
After you already know it all
When it's all said and done
More is said than done
At that point of discovery
The academic unveils a mystery
Such is the time
When the teacher
Goes back to school
It's a moment when
The teacher appears the fool
The fool for not understanding
For not relating
For not anticipating
All the intricacies of the student
The difficulties of the day
Is it any wonder
The students are dismayed
At the flimsy logic
Being purported
At the rebuttals
Being retorted
"Do as I say
And not as I do"
This is enough for you
So say many
Who teach the masses
Yet they themselves
Must go back to classes
Classes not necessarily academic you see
Because what the instructor needs
Is to bleed
To feel peoples pain
To hurt within
To empathize and be sympathetic
Once again
It's oh so easy
To get in a rut
Of telling people what to do
And become a nut
Shelled in by theory
Deceived by dogma
Encased in scripts
Fossilized
To the point that humanity
You've dehumanized

Each teacher must feel
Each orator be real
The only way
This can be
Is for trouble and problems
To come upon thee
This is a part
Of God's grand design
To get to you
In the knick of time
Before you become arrogant
Distant and cruel
Before you start thinking
There's none better than you
The ground at the foot of the cross
Is always level
That's where God does business
With human hearts
When they are on bended knee
Not behind a pulpit
Throwing darts
Practicing what you prech
Is still not enough
Because by it alone
You just become self-righteous
Tribulation produces experience
And it a teacher like no other
Experience gives birth to hope
While you try to cope
Try to carry on
Despite the dilemma
Try not to lose your mind
When you're running out of time
To pay your bills
Save your marriage
Care for the crying baby
In the carriage
Life's problems are many and real
Yet only by experiencing them ourselves
Do we feel
Thus God would not have us
To be alone in a cave
In a monastery
Or a theological grave

No, far better for us
Is it to experience life
With all its complexities
Turmoil and strife
Sorrow and death
Seasons and years
Anger and rage
Rejoicing and tears
For only then
Can we fully understand
Only then
Can we be in the band
The human procession
Marching on through life
Enduring the pain
Loneliness and darkness at night
At such moments we feel
Therein we care
Relating ourselves
Being equitable and fair

Forgive me dear God
For being callous and hard
So calculating and cruel
An educated retard
Soften my heart once again
As I sit and observe
People and situations
As I myself encounter
Being stretched beyond limitations
Enlarge my capacity to feel
To listen, love and be real
To sit with the folks
And not hastily render answers
Or arrogantly make jokes
Until I first have felt
And with myself dealt
The important question
Do I know what they know?
Have I experienced their pain?
If not then perhaps I
Should try to refrain
From running off at the mouth
And trying to size up the situation
Help me God be quiet
And practice compassion

Ironic is it
That we who teach
Must be taught again
Taught in a different fashion
Taught to ask questions
And do self-examination
As to the condition
Of our own heart
The readiness of our own soul
Before we begin
To police and patrol
To criticize and cajole
To sneer and to steer
We must first
Sincerely feel and hear.