A Revelation

One day, while in front of the TV
watching the news
I had a revelation.

A plane had crashed somewhere
far away, four people dead,
I spoke out loud.

Isn't it crazy how people die everyday,
but if doesn't affect you or your life
you don't think much of it?

That somewhere someone is hurting,
because that woman was her mother
or that boy was his son.

But it didn't affect me,
so I didn't think much of it.
And I went on with my life.

One day, after hearing the news,
while in the weight room working out,
I had a revelation.

Two cars had crashed somewhere
close, one person dead.
I did not speak.

Isn't it crazy that people die everyday
but if it doesn't affect you or your life,
you don't think much of it.

But there, in the weight room
I was hurting, because I had known this man.
He was my neighbor.

No one else paused to look
at the crash on the monitor,
no one else cared.

No one else thought of the wife at home
who no longer had a husband
or the two kids who no longer had a father.

But I did. It affected me.
So I thought, and I cried.
And then I went on with my life.

Isn't it sometimes sickening how comfortable we get with death? Because it happens everyday and everywhere. It's not that death is something to be feared... it's just that the hundreds of people who died on 9-11 were honored and their country will remember them every year on that day. But what about the woman who died in the motor accident two nights ago? Only the son she left behind will remember her on the anniversary of her death. It's so subjective. Death is subjective. But no matter what you feel or how it affects you, life still goes on whether you believe it will or not. That's the only way we survive.