I Am…

Torn

Between the extraordinary kindness I see

everywhere

And the extraordinary cruelty I see

everywhere.

How can children dying of cancer work to stop bullying and harassment,

When countries bomb each other over claims neither of them can prove?

How can a man give a homeless girl his shoes,

When thousands of people are paid on a dollar a day, breathing poisons

And making objects

ignorant consumers will throw out in a week?

How can underfunded scientists work to save an animal vital to the survival of humanity yet forgotten to the masses,

When the overfunded military works to design new ways to kill people

without looking them in the eye?

How can a rural family take in a completely random lost traveler, care for them, and ask nothing in return,

When cigarette companies place their ads at children’s eye level to draw them in at a young age to take their lives?

How can I stay so shallow and wrapped-up in my domestic life,

When people my age struggle for survival daily?

How can I keep faith in the inherent good,

When I see all the inherent bad?

I am

Torn

Between the extraordinary kindness I see

everywhere,

And the extraordinary cruelty I see

everywhere.