I was an adolescent girl, fifteen years of age
and I had a radical idea
that if we just stopped hating each other
for the sake of hate
we all might just get along
the world would be a better place
and fewer people would get hurt, traumatised, or killed
this radical idea was scuppered
by ingrained discrimination that hid in every crevice of life
that for many generations had been passed down
to be absorbed by the minds of easily influenced children
without question.
So, by the time those children grew up
too few wanted to hear me out
there are many like me, who tried
to go against the grain
swim against the tide
walk along the knife-edge
to ring the bell of change
to call time on the drunken logic of hate
whatever form it took
prejudice, violence, anger
we were seeking some form of human awakening
a common heartbeat
a universal reasoning
a bond of respect, a bond of decency.
Too few were ready for that yet
and those who did not get shot
for voicing this radical idea
still held onto this message of oneness
peace and love.
—I am pushing 50 years on this planet
and the world is still dominated by hate
ruled by dangerous minds and controlled by fear
saturated by the media and distracted
by advertisements
that tell us what we should buy
to fit in.
It makes me beyond sad
that something as fundamental
as human decency
can be so easily discarded
for vanity to take precedence over it
sometimes it seems like
there is no heart, beating
at the centre of humanity.