Why can't we see?

Liberty and justice for all.
Okay, so those words
fit perfectly on our tongues,
memorized, recited while
gazing at the flag of the country that
was supposed to be
the land of the free.
Those words, a reassurance. A promise. A pledge.
A guarantee that in this country, the world is right. With liberty. With justice.

But words mean nothing.

I write and
I try to give meaning to my words, but
how can words do anything
when everyone insists they're true?
Words don't magically become reality.
If those words were written
more than a century ago,
why,
why,
why
can't we see yet
that we are not done?

Why can't we
understand
that justice doesn't exist
unless we make it?

Why can't we
remember
that words mean nothing if
we don't give them truth?

Why can't we know
that making the world right
isn't up to those words that don't mean anything
a promise never kept;
why can't we know
that it is
that it always was
up to no one
but ourselves?