What a boxed world we live in.
We consult our phones to see what we believe today, scrolling through the options – Thumbs up. Thumbs down. Smiley face. Frowny face. Aw, puppies.
The world we were handed crashes around us, the places we dined and shopped and walked closing and poisoned, collapsing.
But we don’t care. I can order it by phone and have it delivered.
I can live inside my box.
Someone else will fix it.
Hey look what they proposed.
Let’s send a nasty message. That will be fun.
It’s just words. It’s a game.
It won’t hurt anyone.
Did you hear about those kids in that hospital in Syria?
It’s a war. Why don’t they just move?
Did you hear about those kids in Africa? They’re all poor. What do you expect?
Did you hear about those people in Puerto Rico?
Too much. Too much. OK. I’ll send an electronic donation. Satisfied?
Did you know what New Orleans looked like after the flood?
What California looked like after the fires?
Do you know that a life washed away or burned to ashes feels like?
Did you see that old man with the American flag on the side of the road?
The kids in the homeless shelter, question the silence in an old mining town, see the glint of cold sunlight shine from a broken factory window?
Do you wonder why they marched, knowing the beating was coming.
Did you ever fight for change?
Do you wonder what it’s like to be six years old and look up to see a man with a gun shooting at you?
Wonder how that blood was spattered on the altar of the church in Charleston
Or in the hallways at Sandy Hook and Parkland, Florida?
Ever wonder what it’s like to hold a dying friend?
Hey, people are poor, jobs go away. I put my change in the Salvation Army bucket.
People get killed.
It’s terrible for them. Look at them crying together.
I live in a safe neighborhood..
I have an alarm system on my house I can monitor by my phone.
No one can get in.
I order take-out Chinese so I don’t have to leave the house.
Look at them crying.
It makes me feel bad.
Siri, change the channel.