The earth is cracked beneath my feet. Dry and desolate, devoid of any true form or malleability. The hot air makes it difficult to breathe. Suffocating, it wraps around my throat in an embrace of sand and emptiness. My legs buckle as those around me simply remain in a state of inertia. I wonder if anyone cares. I wonder if anyone else suffers the human condition.
A newly minted Academy Award winner - Lupita Nyong'o - made an impressive statement during her acceptance speech, that has remained with me, day in, day out. "It doesn't escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else's." And it is that very concept of the opposite forces at play that pervades my thoughts.
Humans are not made of the same material through and through. Some carry deep convictions that permeate their DNA. Some are disavowed since early in their life, and carry nothing but hatred and sorrow. Others are welded piece by piece. Each piece resonant with their experiences, their losses, their falls, their successes and failures. It is this fragmentation of the human experience that is paramount to how each and every one of us responds to the proverbial call. To help the ones that cannot help themselves. To save the ones that cannot be saved. To nurture, to console, to give more of ourselves. To love unconditionally, without remorse, without regrets, without grudges.
We live in such a deeply divided world. A fragmented sphere continuously undergoing shifts in its core, in its inhabitants. What we do now, will define how things turn out tomorrow. Our time is running out. Our decision making must improve, for the sake of our own children. We must reap better than what we are presently sowing.
Everyone's a critic, especially when the topics of faith and spirituality arise. It's almost an inherently automatic response by us to flee in the face of something of greater significance. No one wants to believe, and most that say they do, truly don't. Just a few remain, tethered solidly to the cause. Running down the hill at breakneck speed. Fighting the good fight day in day out.
We need those angels among us. We need them more than we think. Look around you, seek them. Stay close and help the helpless. The landslide is closing in. We still have time.
