In such a world
where the poor die of thirst
and drown in the cesspool
of disregard
and echoed empty promises,
do you think of bridges
and boats that float
under moonlit rainbows?
Do you think about how
you condemned to die
that hope that lived for as long
as you cared about us?
Or do you change that channel, too,
and move on with your life?

In such a world
where cameras capture chaos
and desperate mothers pleading
for some help
and the slightest human kindness,
do you think of arms extended
and a helping hand
reaching down and lifting up a friend?
Do you think about how
you pushed me down, held me
under, took all the life I knew?
Or are you shaking your head
and saying even now that you
didn’t know how to help
as the need was just too great?

The pointed questions juxtaposed with images of national tragedy, while derived from personal experience, speak to an underlying malaise in our culture, a misguided belief that it is fine to take the easy way out in relationships of all kinds, to walk away and write someone off in a way that leaves a wake of wreckage and refuse. My point of view is that physical abandonment of one another is appalling and yet another telltale sign that we do not truly love one another, collectively, as we should. When we make it easy on ourselves to abandon one another emotionally, to scar one another mentally or psychologically or to abuse or deprive one another in any way, we set the stage for widescale suffering, both personal and societal. What we can do, I believe, is simply this: love one another, seek reconciliation where possible and restore hope and trust where our actions have breached or splintered a fragile human heart or mind or spirit. Ok.... my sermon, straight from a hurting heart, is through for now. Dawn