Walking down the street,
Looking at the
Faces of strangers,
He doesn’t feel fear,
But rather senses
Their shared humanity.
He smiles at them,
A gesture of kindness
Toward another person
Who needs to be treated with
Love and gentleness,
As we all do.
He remembers when,
As a child,
He defended a
Girl from another country
When a classmate
Said cruel things to her.
His parents had always told him that
Everyone is important and that
Superficial differences don’t matter,
That one should
Treat people with kindness
Regardless of where they are from
Or what they look like.
Many years later,
He still lets his voice be heard
Whenever and wherever
He sees someone
Being put down or marginalized
Just because someone else
Needs to feel bigger;
A kind person
Speaking out against harshness.
Instead of
Fear
He chose
Courage,
Instead of
Hatred
He chose
Love,
Instead of
Animosity
He chose
Kindness,
Hopeful
Choices
For him and
The world.
Light doesn’t get in here,
Only an unsettling dullness
Feeding unconsciousness.
Judgments arrived at
Through thoughtlessness,
Ferocious fear.
Enlightenment derided,
Hurt the only
Acceptable currency.
Another reflexive reaction
To imaginary threats,
Absence of love.
Everything is going along
Much as it always has,
Until something changes.
Whether due to an accumulation
Of slights over time,
A single major event,
Or increase of self-esteem,
The relationship shifts,
Moving in a new, less intimate
Direction, trust depleted,
Superficiality followed by
Disengagement, one party
Expanding, the other static,
Continuing separately.
He’s unable to be impartial,
Too many things churning inside,
Slabs of unresolved mayhem,
Monsters screaming at him
About how worthless he is,
Misshapen ego craving
Absolute power and control.
Having internalized the messages,
He fulfills the prophecy by
Relentlessly punishing others,
Oozing misdirected self-satisfaction,
Unable to be anything
But what he was told he is,
Perpetrator of injustice.
She comes home
After a hard day’s work
Entering numbers into
A computer,
Staring at a cold,
Uncaring screen,
Figures passing by,
Taking moments of
Her life with them,
All to pay the bills
For those she loves.
She walks in the door,
He gives her a hug
And listens to how
Her day went.
Instead of viewing
Each other with
Hatred and suspicion,
They consciously decide
To sit down and
Share their stories,
Each side learning about the other,
Walls coming down
Through mutual understanding,
Shared humanity,
Empathy superseding blame,
Treating fellow human beings
With kindness and love,
Healing the hurt.
It’s been hard
These last few years,
Not much to celebrate.
She walks down the
Icy street, careful
Not to slip.
The frigid wind
Penetrates her coat,
Increasing her discomfort.
When will things change?
She wonders,
The same struggle day after day.
Approaching a homeless person,
She offers a five-dollar bill
And a smile.
