Trying to avoid doing
Something that really
Needs to be done,
An uncomfortable itch
That doesn’t go away.
Busying oneself with
Distractions,
Reminders unabating,
Relentless in their
Power to unsettle,
Unstoppable until
Properly addressed.
They’ve been given
Permission to be as
Loutish as they want,
Belittling anyone who
Doesn’t agree with them,
Gaining validation from
Someone with no restraint,
Who doesn’t care for
Anyone but himself.
Under a
Perpetual
Poisonous
Smog cloud,
He walks along
A filthy street,
Engulfed by
Row upon row
Of blank,
Faceless,
Forbidding
Cloned buildings
Teeming with families
Dislocated by
Unstoppable forces,
A concrete corridor
Of imposed
Existence.
Having been terribly hurt
Early in his life
By people he trusted,
He flailed through each day with
Selfishness and cruelty,
Ridiculing empathy,
Celebrating harshness,
Repeating the pattern.
One sleepless night,
It became clear to him
That he was trying
To get back at those who
Had injured him,
Destroying himself and
Everyone else in the process.
It dawned on him that
He was only continuing the misery and
Resolved at that very moment to
Live with kindness,
Leaving behind all the pain,
Healing himself and the world.
It’s as if
They’ve lost
The ability to
Feel anything,
Empathy replaced
By a grim,
Cold numbness.
Only the victors matter.
If you don’t win
You’re a loser.
Expendable,
Ignorable,
Worthless.
You either
Make it or
You don’t.
It’s up to you.
We’ll make sure
You get no help.
Formidable castles
Surrounded by
Afterthoughts.
The impulse to
Help someone in need,
To assist a fellow
Human being who is suffering,
A trait we all possess
In our hearts because we know
Deep inside that we
Might be there too but
For fickle chance.
The ability to feel
Someone else’s pain
And respond with kindness
Is in every one of us.
A moment of unexpected,
Irrational fear,
Fleeing from a predator
Where there is none,
Subconscious poison
Introduced long ago,
A passing observation,
Furrowed brow,
Explicit statement,
Unanticipated display
Followed by shame,
Though not in some,
Which is why it
Persists.
Please stop telling me
Who I am, what I need
To be doing, and how
I should do it.
Those decisions are best
Left to me, the person
Most affected by purposelessly
Following well-meaning but
Entirely ill-suited advice;
I’ll fare much better when
You let me find my own answers.
