The Meaning of Shame

I once read:

"In getting rid of shyness, we have destroyed real shame!"

I can't remember where I read it

But the meaning reads true ...

We're more concerned with shyness

And so have truncated real shame

It is lack of shame

That will make a community

Round up four youths

Club them to the ground

And roast them with fire

It is lack of shame

That makes someone rationalise

Mass murder, kidnapping, and the likes

Either in the name of God

Or in that of redressing a wrong

It is lack of shame

That makes politicians

Promise to alleviate poverty

Only for them to steal so much

That poverty greys into penury

It is lack of shame

That makes multinationals

Take so much from the people

Then bribe the self-appointed leaders

In order to hide their crimes

It is lack of shame

That makes it possible

That people acquitted of graft

In our courts, are tried, convicted

And sentenced in other climes

It is lack of shame

That makes a parent

Pay people to write examinations

For their wards who will turn out

As doctors, lawyers, politicians ...

It is lack of shame

That makes people to impoverish their society

By stealing it blind

And take the loot to buy property

In a land developed by their mates

It is lack of shame

That makes leaders

Lie through their teeth

Against the very people

They claim to be protecting

It is lack of shame

That makes someone

Who rigged election

Come out and say he or she has "mandate"

Whose mandate, I dare ask?

It is shame, not lack of it

That makes a nation great

It is shame, not lack of it

That makes a people prosperous

It is shame, not lack of it

That makes for an equitable society

It is shame, not lack of it

That makes a wrong wrong

That's the real meaning of real shame

I am full of shame for my land!