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The Greater Tragedy
Folder:
A Traveler's Experience Outrage, and framed sadness
Online and in the printed press
Bludgeoned on the subway line
Stabbed to death, two of the victims
Some psycho targeted the homeless
How could such a tragedy happen?
They ask the right question
But ask it at the wrong time,
Too late,
Way too late to just start pondering
"How could such a tragedy happen?"
Why wasn't this question asked
The very first day those poor people
Had to lay their belongings on a subway seat?
Rest in peace, those two poor souls
Sent away
But, as death - someday - comes for us all,
The Greater Tragedy
Is how we, as a society,
Allowed them to live their last days
It's, indeed, the way we left them to travel
Towards the end of their earthly path
Yes, good question - the greatest question, really
How could such a tragedy happen?
We all need to really sit with that
We need to lay down in those train cars and think for a while
A Poignant Read
I hope your penning this read has helped you incorporate your moving sadness into some affirmative action or understanding. Our societal woes are humongous rocks, and all we have are itty-bitty hammers. I guess the trick is to get all those itty-bitty hammers pounding in unison.
Yes. I wholly take to your
Yes. I wholly take to your metaphors. And, never seeking to write such things just to soak in sadness or despair, the itty-bitty hammer is once more in hand as the pen rests. Thank you for reading, and for sharing true wisdom.
At Least 3x Daily
when I eat, I think of kids in usa not eating anything. There are food and cold shelters for these sub freezing weeks in Detroit, but the need is about to escalate. Folks who took home 2 thousand a week exist on unemployment - are selling their possessions. Landlords not paid for 6 months are setting people out and changing the locks in 14 degree weather. I sit in my warm apt and feel blue unable to do what tax dollars should. I heard a figure for usa employment recovery at 2024. Want, psychosis, desperation, just broken: will increase. Expect tent cities this spring.
~S~
Mhm. Well you express
Mhm. Well you express yourself as a fine and conscious soul, so I'm not surprised with what you sit with, and what you understand. Out this way, we have people trying to make it through winters out in tents and makeshift shacks deep in the woodlands. I'm also aware that outside of Rochester, there are people trying to make it in the wintry woods on the outskirts of the city, living in what I'll call 'tarp towns'. Lord knows if they're making it. Homeless unions have been forming, trying to give themselves some united front to stand for themselves, but they are greatly outmassed by the piles of cash in the hands of the landlords. It's an uphill fight to say the least. They need support from as many of us as they can who still have something more than a tarp over our heads. And, there are those among us still with roof, who perhaps don't realize it yet but will soon be joining them. As you said, spring is going to be brutal, in this regard.
We're already way behind the clock. We have to unite now. And not with the politicians who want us to cry a river because some irrational stranger put boots up on their fancy desk, or because they didn't get four more years living in the world's largest castle. We need to unite with "the tired, the poor, the huddled masses." Dare I say, even those with caps or masks or flags of what ever sort that offend us. The hungry and the soon to be hungry, the cold and the soon to be cold, the soon to be stabbed or frozen to death need that from us, as much as anyone. Theirs, and each others basic wellbeing, is a concern we must all share and put above all else, with a now or never mindset.
As a family
We give food and money. Once I get hand surgery (post jab and herd immnity) I want to volunteer. I will to build up stamina from being sedentary for a year plus. Can't lift so food bank is out. Will see - not young anymore - I still think I'm 50.
.
Working a neighborhood garden would be sweet! To feed folks in the summer to late Fall. Veggies. Fresh. I'd like that kind of helping and giving.
~S~
I don't doubt you :) And
I don't doubt you :) And bless you and the family for it.
I think there's probably a real serene approach in helping through a garden. It's a peaceful environment through which to deal with such a troubling time and matter. Growing food here, and having done community gardens, I've definitely found a huge amount of serenity and helpful time of reflection. Plus, there are the rewards of nature. Even in a more urban environment, hopefully butterflies and the like. A favorite such memory of mine was discovering that praying mantids could turn purplish, as I observed several of them amount a cluster of Ararat Basil (a purple and green leafed variety). Couldn't find any scientific literature on it for almost another decade, and even till this day the documentation is scant, but I know what I was lucky enough to see. The little rewards, eh?