The light pours into my room
through a crack in the wall.
It rushes through
as if trying to escape the other side.
I imagine the particles of light
are like immigrants
from a war torn land.
Is the fight to get through
a battle amongst the luminescence?
Are the rays I’m seeing
the strongest of the particles?
Did the light that makes it through
have to push others down
or leave their families behind?
I think all this
from my own war torn land.
Through the lens
of a bruised, battered heart.
The land I’m from
has migrated away from love
and is selling off
its freedom of speech
for a cheap laugh
and temporary,
artificial comfort.
When showing love,
showing emotion -
becomes a sign of weakness...
What’s left to fight for?
Self-preservation?
When the loves of our lives
pass in and out of frame daily
but we learn to ignore them:
Why?
“Because emotion makes you weak.”
We are taught at a young age.
“Boys don’t cry.”
“That’s not how love works.”
“You’re doing it wrong.”
When the sound of gun shots
replaces the bird’s song
and the cries of human suffering
replace the laughter of children
we realize we need a change.
When we take a human soul
and attempt to jam it into a mold -
and we attack and beat it
when it won’t hold the mold’s shape -
we teach only pain
We teach self-hatred.
Sure, with enough battering,
you can get a square to fit
through the sphere’s slot
but you only have yourself to blame
when the square is no longer a square.
So where’s the key?
What’s the solution?
When the entire system
is built on the oppression
of other human beings...
We better be ready
for the pot to boil over.
We must teach acceptance
and it must start from within.
Self-love. Self-acceptance.
For a nation of scared, superficial kids
with dead-eyed role models
will only perpetuate this cycle.
Hug your kids.
Hug your neighbors.
The black.
The white.
The brown.
The Christian.
The Muslim.
The Jew.
The gay.
The straight.
The bi.
Show them love.
Show them basic human decency --
acceptance.
And together
hand in hand
we can start to move forward.
To heal.
