we think we're better

Everybody feels things,

No matter what they say or how they act,

Emotions run wild through the brain with no control.

Everyone has choices,

Even if not all our options are the same,

But we can all be kind and cruel.

We are all compassionate,

Holding the door for a stranger,

Checking in on a friend,

Concerned for a person, we might not even know.

We are all apathetic,

Watching homes be bombed,

People gunned down,

A shaded map, with losses growing.

We all look at murder and see a heinous act,

Then we learn the context and suddenly it’s grey.

Just a tool for destruction and justice.

We like to pretend it’s just those two options,

This, that, us, them.

It’s so much easier if we can pretend purple doesn’t exist.

When we watch someone die,

See the blood, the limp sac of meat and bones,

Sometimes there’s a monster laying in wait.

It attacks, rearing its head, with a smile,

Maybe an urge to laugh, to giggle, or cackle uncontrollably.

We can watch from afar as people scramble and scream,

The background music in our lovely little dream.