Mentally Deficient (poem) by Mark M Lichterman on AuthorsDen

Mentally Deficient
by Mark M Lichterman → (All Poetry by Mark M Lichterman)
Saturday, July 1, 2023 Rated "G" by the Author.

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First posted on 4/9/10... And daily things are becoming worse.
Mentally Deficient Is there a mental deficiency within my brain? I know I should feel absolute pain in the suffering of others, that I should feel absolute pain in the pain of others. And yes, I do! However, the horrors that assail us daily, that deluge our senses with untold pain with untold cruelty with lack of reason. Awakening, what will today bring? Awakening, first conscious thought may well be: What is the horror this day will bring? A bomb blowing a government building to smithereens killing hundreds? Planes flying into buildings killing thousands? A hurricane blowing the ocean into a city killing and displacing hundreds of thousands? A tsunami washing cities away killing and displacing hundreds of thousands? An earthquake destroying a country killing and displacing hundreds of thousands? A coal mine collapsing trapping and smothering dozens? A mother drowning her children? A father killing his children? A rampaging lunatic killing all within sight? A fetus torn from the ripped stomach of an expectant mother? What is the horror of this day? What is the daily horror this day will bring, ...that tomorrow will bring? I know I should feel absolute pain in the suffering of others, that I should feel absolute pain in the pain of others, and I do... yet... In a strange way I feel detached. In a strange way I feel my mind overloaded with the new horror that assails me daily, that deluge my senses that, in a strange way leaves me feeling detached and not as sympatric as I know I should feel leaving me to ask, am I mentally deficient? Is there a mental deficiency within my brain?

Reviewed by Diana Wiles

Reviewed on September 12, 2023

No Mark, I think we have been, and are being subjected to such an
overload of horrors, not to mention the Covid crisis which was totally scary on a
global level�that our brains cannot cope�it is as a means of
protection I feel that we often feel numb to such things..
In days gone by before Social media took hold,
here in the U.K. I remember as a child that it was the nightly six o clock news,
and our local newspaper �The Hull Daily Mail� that alerted us to what was
going on world wide and locally�and in black and white�
The full impact was therefore subdued to a degree�although I do
remember watching the horror of little children
and whimpering babies with swollen stomachs starving,
and my Dad not being to eat his evening meal�
Now we are living the reality in graphic detail of everything that is
tragic and horrific, whilst in my opinion not being shown enough of the
wonderful stuff that surrounds us daily�worldwide, and the kindness and
goodwill of so many�we need balance�and some happiness injecting back into our
lives�but horror and tragedy get the audiences sadly, and sell newspapers�and get
ratings for TV companies�
I try not to watch as much news as I used to�to protect my well-being�especially
when there is not anything I am able to do to help�so no�you are not lacking in
empathy Mark�we are just caught up in the way things are presented�I find radio
a better way to hear what I must�
We all need to turn those giant TV�s off!

Sending my best wishes to you,
Diana�🌿

Reviewed by La Belle Rouge Poetess Of The Heart

Reviewed on September 5, 2023

This poem sounds like it was written recently. We are seeing and experiencing too much in too short a time. Yes, we are in shock and waiting for the next shoe to drop. Well penned and thought provoking, Mark, you are and excellent poet/writer.

Reviewed by Ronald Hull

Reviewed on July 2, 2023

You are experiencing something that Alvin Toffler described many years ago as, Future Shock. Older people tend to become overwhelmed with too much information and have a hard time processing it.

If we look at history, the world has constantly been in turmoil. But scientific advances particularly in medicine and technologies, have enabled us to live longer worldwide. But it wasn't until the telegraph in the mid-1800s before news could be transmitted any faster than a newspaper carried to the next town or someone who had witnessed something came to your town4 and told everyone, often starting rumors.

While radio provided us with the news and newspapers became the way we found out about things in the early 20th century, television, starting in the 1950s became a way to find out what was happening. But it's only been since the start of the 2000s that the Internet has made almost everyone with a cell phone a reporter.

That's too much information for almost anyone to handle. It is best to ignore most of it unless it's right next door and affects you, personally. Worldwide data has shown that our lives are better every year right up until the pandemic where there was a setback for a couple of years. Global warming still looms in the future far more than the threat of nuclear war by the other countless threats we can conjure up from fiction or fact.

My advice, don't get riled up over the news. Relax and float downstream.

Ron

Reviewed by Felix Perry

Reviewed on July 1, 2023

No in this day and age...we all feel a sense of helplessness that there is a coming doom and one of these days it will be ours.
Fee