Restraint
Never went to war
Don’t know what it’s like
When team members go down,
Bleed out, get shipped home
Like Amazon returns.
Don’t know what it’s like
After the clenched teeth,
Fists, tears, memories
To swap vengeance,
For discipline,
Restraint.
Restraint,
“Measure or condition
That keeps someone or something
Under control or within limits.”
Restraint,
“Unemotional, dispassionate
Moderate behavior,
Self-control.”
In this decade,
I’ll trust the warriors,
Who’ve passed the
Strictest tests,
The banished,
The marginalized,
Whose restrained passions
Transform lives and communities,
Not the lawless sons and daughters
Of privilege
Stamping their feet,
Throwing their sippy cups,
Telling the generals it’s
Tantrum Time.
Len Shindel began working at Bethlehem Steel’s Sparrows Point Plant in 1973, where he was a union activist and elected representative in local unions of the United Steelworkers, frequently publishing newsletters about issues confronting his co-workers. His nonfiction and poetry have been published in the “Other Voices” section of the Baltimore Evening Sun, The Pearl, The Mill Hunk Herald, Pig Iron, Labor Notes and other publications. After leaving Sparrows Point in 2002, Shindel, a father of three and grandfather of seven, began working as a communication specialist for an international union based in Washington, D.C. The International Labor Communications Association frequently rewarded his writing. He retired in 2016. Today he enjoys writing, cross-country skiing, kayaking, hiking, fly-fishing, and fighting for a more peaceful, sustainable and safe world for his grandchildren and their generation. Shindel is currently working on a book about the Garrett County Roads Workers Strike of 1970 www.garrettroadstrike.com.