Full Buildings Empty

Some call it urban hell.

Others defend their high-rise edifices as safety.

Still more will say successful people make full the buildings,

But know not how empty that amounts to.

Empty of humanness

Striving to disguise their franticness

With accoutrements of peace and tranquility—

At least the way society has 

Coerced and brainwashed us to believe.

To picture the windows of glass and steel enclosures as safety

Is to believe the doorman only lets

 “decent” people into the building.

But…

Perhaps both visitors and residents,

Regardless of faith or non-belief,

Need to remind themselves of a biblical quote

That even the secular humanists understand

And give respect to:

“For what shall it profit a man,

If he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

The more mindful urbanites

Will behave with integrity and kindness.

The metaphysicists may think the soul is one’s inner voice.

Still others,

Many who gain acceptance into the circle of luxuriant economic status,

Fill many a building with emptiness,

And of course,

The typical response to questions of ethical behavior usually causes

A condescending jocular and pompous harrumph of denial:

“Nonsense.  “What are you talking about?”