Look where we are now. Look, if you can bear to. I can't do it everyday, anymore. I realized it is self-harming behavior, and there's no need to keep traumatizing myself all day long.
However...I remember quite clearly the day my boss and I were in the office talking about the upcoming election and I said these words outloud: "This country will never allow that to happen." But it did. I have never since said something can't or won't happen.
Realistic optimist? Hopeful pessimist? I don't know if there's a label that fits, or if I'd accept one if it did. I just keep working to prepare myself and my family for whatever might happen. I mourn those who are dying, and grieve for their families. I am outraged that children and teachers are being placed on the frontlines of this pandemic when every bit of evidence says we are putting their lives in danger. I am outraged that my government is not doing its job, and continues to allow a narcissistic, treasonous conman to keep breathing. I will continue to do the work I need to do, but I won't be caught off guard again. We are being swallowed whole. But I'll be damned if we aren't fighting fiercely.
The Great Re-Grouping.
I have lived alone before
and wrapped the silence and the house sounds
around me for comfort and strength.
But that was different.
My life has often been measured
in before and afters.
Boxed up, wrapped up, compartmentalized into
Now and Then.
Some of the durings mattered,
but they happened in real time,
in the everyday, in the middle of
life as we knew it and
they were swallowed whole.
But this.
This great Re-Grouping.
This cosmic time-out, go to your room, and
Stay there...
This is a During that will make or break
a person
a family
a community
a country
The World as we know it.
Life, as we knew it.
This is a during we better remember.
It might be our last, big chance to
Choose who we are now and
Who we will be in the New Times.
If we let this swallow us whole
All will be lost.
We will be lost.
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