living
in the world
can be daunting

each day
you take
a breath

a further
step from your
original truth

caught up
in the feeling
somehow this is

about you
that war
this crisis

another
financial
downfall

toxic air
you can’t
breath in

a community
plagued by
silent atrocities

little girls
snatched out
innocence

little boys
left with
no defense

you see
your own
face

on
every
milk carton

searching
for moments
of sanity

in the midst
of constant
calamity

fact is
you keep
surviving

evidence
you have
been

desensitized
starting to
believe

even
propagate
the lies

that has
nothing to do
with me

i mind
my own
business

to keep
me and mine
free.

i’ve never been very good at staying quiet. even when i promise my mother and other loved ones that i won’t say anything, it never fails, i say something.  i wonder what it would be like to be the person who stays silent, keeps their head down, and holds their thoughts and ideas to themselves. especially in the face of gross neglect, abuse, and inequality i wonder how can they possibly see all this and think ‘it’s not my problem.’ i don’t think that every person has the responsibility to rush in and ‘save the world’ but i do think every person has the responsibility to speak up in the face of injustice, especially when it involves the neglect and abuse of those who can’t speak for themselves.