Rally for Science speaker series: Lizzie Belmont

Posts in this series are transcribed from speeches given at the March 7 Rally for Science, from the steps of Logan Courthouse. Lizzie Belmont is a sophomore at Logan High School, and spoke about the international issues we face today all coming back to greed, communicated with a poem.

We face a number  of issues and problems today, as a city, a country, a species. Whether it be with the climate, unaccountability in our government, failure in the justice system, or economic problems, they all take a heavy toll on the spirits of the people. What we need to internalize in order to start making real change is that all of these issues are relational in that the root issue for them all is greed. Greed for wealth. Greed for attention. Greed for power. Greed has corrupted and conquered the minds and bodies of those in power and has even started to inject itself into those without direct power, forcing us to relinquish our own voice to strengthen our oppressors. This we will do no longer. This is what we must fight. This is what must fuel us to not be content with injustice. 

I would like to finish my time today with a poem I wrote about greed. It’s called “More”, and I hope it will stay with you all as a reminder that the fight is long from over. 

More 

It starts like a whisper, subtle wherein
It seems nothing more than an aspiration,
Not hurtful Nor harmful Just determination,
The list of the accomplished growing, much to its elation. 
But the list is never seemingly drained
of the many things not yet attained.
Time goes by as the itch becomes insatiable
The thirst seeming unquenchable,
Until it will stop at nothing To corrupt the mind of its host

Into seeing nothing but the world  diagnosed
as theirs alone to conquer or destroy,
Whichever better fits its ploy.
It trades your name for glints of gold 
As your blood turns cold 
and your heart grows old.
No feast can fill the hollowed place,
That it has carved behind your face.
You crown yourself with the worth you’ve won,
And steal the ever generous sun,
But riches rot, and vaults decay,
Even shadows now avoid your way.
Still not finished, you drain the well,
Selling your soul till there’s nothing left to sell.
You smile as kingdoms fall like rain,
Needing more and more for the smile to remain.