Question And Answer

Pity pulls at the emotions Empathy burns Conviction wavers. What is it like where you are? Why are you standing there with you hand stretched out? Where is your country now, Sir? Why is your skin peeling off? Why am I helpless to help you?

I wonder what its like to stand in your shoes, Sir, if only for a minute. I pause. Had you any shoes. Why can I not help you? Where is your soul? Is it there, gripped in your hand, wrapped in a brown paper bag? Is it in your honorable discharge notice? In your hospital bills? In you perscriptions that you cannot afford to fill?

Crossing the street now, I can hear you behind me, feel you staring at the back of my head. How is it that you came to be this way, Sir? Didn't you already work for food, serve your country for food, serve your country for medication, for care? Serve your country for happiness? For liberty? For health?

Across the street, Uncle Bush points at me, smiles and says, "Serve your country young man! Its your civic duty." Behind him glares the neon words, "Die for oil! It's the Right thing to do!"

Who knows who to believe? Did you suffer this inner battle, Sir? Were you plagued by doubt of your government? Did you ever try to speak out, only to be shut down by those who have the power? Were you ever face to face with a policeman in full riot gear, waiting for you to take the slightest movement so he can break your face? Have you ever been disgusted at the actions of your nation? Would you still die for it? Would you still die for me? Should I die for it? Why should I die for me? Why should I kill for you?

Can you answer me that, Sir?

Awareness

What does it mean to be aware in this day and age? In this seemingly hedonistic society fueled by semen, sweat, money and tears, being aware has taken a backseat to dulling the senses, the eyes, the mind, the heart, the soul. Every action seems to be an attempt to block some sense or memory, to distance oneself from the world. How important is it to be aware? Are we better off not knowing what is going on around us? Are we better off not being cognizant of the millions of children starving to death each day in the world? Not being empathetic to the thousands or millions of people going through civil wars, rebellions, economic upheaval, religious pogroms, ethnic cleansing, and opressive governments? Not seeing the homeless and the helpless? Is this state that we find ourselves in a blessing or a malediction? Should we be content with the sugar coated news that we find ourselves swimming in, or should we be asking for the horrid truth? Would the truth only scare us without making us better people, or would the truth about the world around us cause us to decide to clean ourselves up as a society?

I find myself struggling with this question daily, and I find myself wishing that I could know for sure that what I was hearing from the news was what is actually happening, and not what the government wants us to think is happening. I want to be able to see the filth and the contamination around me, to live in a defiled world where everything is not so pure and happy. I want to know my enemies. I want to see the world through the eyes of a child whose stomach has distended from malnutrition. I want to know what its like from the other side of the street.

But then I realize that I don't have the strength to walk across to the other side. I don't know if I could handle what I would see. But then I think that maybe I should anyway.