My grandmother saw cold wars and jim crowing

A God awful song in a screeching tone as if that was the

Only vinyl on her record player and

My mother heard HIV/AIDS, Rwanda and Yugoslavia

Playing through her jukebox and Walkman

Now here we are ipod shuffling through   

Self-hatred and useless negativity

Forgetting our humanity

 

Forgetting that we should

Remember the meaning of love

When we judge someone for not loving

The same person we do 

Remember that the world is a

Kaleidoscope of chai lattes, espressos, white chocolate

And milk chocolate

That not even Starbucks can sell in tall or grande

Cups before manufacturing linear beauty standards

 

Remember that all of us have a special mother tongue

To teach us how to live to our potential

Remember to use the same cranes, world cups and Olympic rings

We build our skyscrapers

Our football stadiums and

Our shopping malls to pick up the poor

Who are shamefully left

At the bottom of the Earth

Scrambling for scraps

Living in Brazilian, Parisian or Bengali shanty towns

Or impoverished New Orleans neighborhoods

Recovering from a storm

 

Remember that a Creator comes in many forms

Humanity has a right to see Him, Her or Them

The way they want to, maybe not see

Anything at all

Remember the megalopolis humanity has created

Before we close the expressways with barbed wire and electric fences

And berlin walls

Make an immigrant our scapegoat

Or our puppet show on the streetcar

Talking smack as if we don’t go to the corner store

For a cold drink and chips willfully

 

Remember the youth who perished when we punished them with towers and tears falling

On a clear Tuesday morning in New York

Pain and confusion exploding in a bomb in Afghanistan  

Or rolling over their minds, bodies and souls in Sandy Hook

Remember the headaches from 9 to 5s in American cities

The body aches from sweatshops in Jakarta

And migrant workers leaving behind their security

 

Remember that our taste buds

Are designed to travel to places beyond

The drive thru window or even our own dinner tables

Because true humanity is the real 

Family reunion

 

Our cousins, our sisters, our brothers

Our parents and grandparents

Are not just on the bloodline

Our family is humanity and

We should use our French

Nepali

Portuguese

Italian

English

Spanish

And German

To be intelligent, compassionate creatures

 

So that we can share our deepest secrets

Our greatest fears and our

Boldest dreams

With a confident voice

Remembering that we are simply

Human