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.

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