Easily Othered - Dec 22 2023

 

Easily Othered

Dec 22 2023

Life is cheap

the further you get.

Like the law of inverse squares,

   —  light, weakening with distance  —

the suffering

diffuses outward

and loses its intensity.

Easy to avert your eyes.

Dehumanize the stranger

and see only difference.

Miss the singular voice

in the cacophony.

Become inured

to collateral damage

huddled masses

last rites,

dying children

genocide.

After all

it's always been thus.

And forces

more powerful than me

are in motion;

what could I possibly change?

Enough death

and the shock wears off.

You simply step over

the rotting corpses

mangled body parts,

let the dogs have at them.

And the masses

slogging down muddy roads

hauling what little they own

soon gets old;

easily othered

the status quo.

Forgetting

that the accident of birth

is all that's between

them and you

   —   the when and where

and to whom.

It's just luck

a throw of the dice,

there

but for the grace of God.

Because there is no why;

fortune, both good and mis

are undeserved.

But things get worse

the suffering gets closer.

Concern grows

borders close in.

Precious life;

precarious

and priceless.