A Work in Progress....
A polar bear grows a thick white coat, paws broad as snowshoes, armed with sharp claws, and mighty jaws with razor teeth to be the supreme killer in a harsh, ice-bound environment where food is scarce, where being a ruthless killer is the difference between life and death. Can you imagine a polar bear feeling remorse for killing a seal? The polar bear has adapted. We are a species capable of destroying ourselves. There is a reason we have developed emotions such empathy, kindness, and hope. Just like the polar bear, we developed them out of survival. If we hadn’t, we probably would have destroyed ourselves long ago. Humans have adapted. And while you are not perfect, I maintain because of the love and care you have for other human beings, there is a very good chance that you are further along the evolutionary scale than some of your fellow beings. You might very well represent a higher form of the species, while the others will go the way of the dodo. That is what it means to be human.
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Tonight (Where are you going tonight, my darling?)
Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make! I followed the Rittenhouse closely, and I'm outraged by the result. The more I read the more I see that the jury followed the letter of the law. But if that's the law, if that's where we are as a society or a civilization, then something is extraordinarily wrong. Something is very broken. If a seventeen-year-old boy (yes, boy, not young man: boy) can carry a gun into a situation like a protest over the death of a black man, kill two people and injure a third, and not be held responsible, we are in dire straits as a society. And I do blame the NRA and all the money that is funneled to our legislators, and the system that allows that. This is my protest. What did you do to prepare for this moment?
Anything? Did you dress up? You look nice. You didn’t know about this moment, though, did you? That you and I would be like this. How could you know? But I did. I knew. And do you know what I did to prepare for this moment? I’ll tell you. I spent the day with my stomach churning, thinking about this, right now. I woke up and this was the first thing I thought of. You. And me. Here. Like this. I didn’t eat at all today. I was afraid I’d just throw it up from nerves. I was so nervous. And I’ve been waiting here wanting to run away, not wanting to do this. Now I don’t know why. You seem nice. I've either read or listened to the audio book of "Just Kids" so many times that my wife and I have started quoting it in our daily life. "No, Patti, no!" when something is going to go very wrong. And "Patti, you only like them because their French," when the other person has a weird quirk, especially when it comes to food.
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John Greiner-Ferris is a politically motivated, multi-disciplinary artist in the Boston area. Sometimes he makes images. Sometimes he writes. Sometimes he does both. Archives
March 2024
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