I live in heaven…
I am a man who gets unconditional love from my mother, wife, son, dog and friends
I am a woman whose main problem is where to shop for my next diamond ring
I am a child who has a room just for my toys
I live in hell…
I am a woman who is abused by her husband and nowhere to go
I am a teenager caught in the grips of drugs
I am a child soldier who watched his mother raped and killed and now is a killer himself
I live in heaven…
I am a man who inherited power, position and privilege
I am a woman born in wealth and married into more wealth
I am a teenager whose life path is already charted … private school, Ivy League college, investment bank, country club, private jet and yacht
I live in hell…
I am a man born in poverty and likely to die poor
I am a woman who depends on food stamps to feed her children
I am a teenager whose life path is already charted … school dropout, gang violence, petty thief, drug pusher, habitual criminal
I live in heaven…
I live in an affluent democracy with a free press and can make a meaningful choice about my government
I have uninterrupted power, clean running water and free public libraries
I cut the trees to prevent forest fires near my vacation home
I live in hell…
I live in a poor theocracy with a captive press and have no say in who rules me
I have to walk 10 miles to fetch water and have never read a book in my life
I cut the trees to feed my family
I live in heaven…
I removed my belly fat through surgery, lifted the wrinkles from my face and look forever young
I visit my therapist to get rid of my insecurities
I live in hell…
I have a protruding stomach from chronic malnutrition, a face lined with despair and look 50 when I am just 30
I lost my child to fever because there is no doctor within 100 miles.
One day I will die and I will go to Earth
Where everybody is kind to each other (is there reason to be anything else?)
Where every child has the opportunity to realize his or her true potential
Where there is no place for poverty or extreme wealth
Where people seek to be respected for their good deeds, not for their sale deeds
One day I will die and I will go to Earth
And I will rest in peace
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Lovely thought...maybe one day the earth will actually be the kind of place u have spoken about :)
ReplyDeleteyou wondered why people would harm others.2 reasons. One because they enjoy the pain in another person's eyes and another because it could bring them some gain.History is littered with examples of the second kind and if you live long enough everybody's life throws up enough instances of the first.For earth to become perfect man's basic nature has to change.Is there a process to take care of that?you know like survival of the goodest?
ReplyDeleteAkhila, you are absolutely correct that the basic human nature to inflict pain on another being has to change, whether it is for gain or for anything. One has to constantly ask oneself "can I accomplish what I want by some other means that does not involve inflicting pain or causing harm". Yes, given the current state of affairs it is a stretch but if we do not strive for that ideal, we will not move towards it.
ReplyDelete