A Momentary Taste of Being

Human and Humane Sometimes in the face of such evil the only human response is apology, is listening to the stories you do not want to hear or believe and accepting them as part of the world you do not know and then making amends--truly setting things to rights, truly liberating the captive who has been so long languishing through a sin-- not commission, not truly omission, but complete inattention, indifference. It is indifference that robs us of any trace of humanity-- the willingness to allow things to be, so long as they don't affect me or mine. Indifference tamps down the cobbles with which hate paves the pathway to hell for all of us. Indifference is an invitation to inhumanity.

Standing at the bathroom sink brushing my teeth I think about the time my brother pulled the golden glass-domed clock from her desk and she cried and said because it wasn't cylindrical but more oval, the glass couldn't be replaced. And I felt her pain and said I'm sorry, and felt that moment that I was really talking to her wherever she might be, but she was for certain with me and without her I am not and then spoke the truth I saw "But you had some share of the blame-- putting a thirteen year old boy who wanted nothing more than to be left alone in charge of his little brothers." And I still love you.