RE: RHETORIC AS THE CAUSE OF DEATH

    

It's happening.  It's been happening forever but only when it hits home do we really care.  Self absorption takes its toll in bodybags.  We mourn and speak out for a time but then quickly turn back to our self induced distractions for comfort.  The human head feels much warmer in the sand, I guess.  Is the stock market up or down?  Should I buy or sell?  What celebrity hates another celebrity?  Will it go 'viral?  'Do we realize that going 'viral' shouldn't be something that we ought to be trying to achieve as it 'infects' our attention to what actually should be important to us all?
     As I've said, this fear of what we do not know or even try to understand has been occurring since the beginning of time.  Scapegoats for why we fail are very easy to find.  It's who and what we can comfortably live with that seems to be the most difficult thing to dissect.
     I don't talk to my neighbors.  Where I live, neighbors come and go every month.  No excuse.  I'm a somewhat shy person.  No excuse.  I don't have time to make conversation with a stranger.  No excuse. Maybe I don't want to find out how much different I am than they are and vice versa.  No excuse.   I suspect I'm not the only one with a kindness deficiency.  Deficiency is described as a lack or shortage of something.  It doesn't mean I have no kindness.  It means my kindness extends only to a certain point and then it ceases to exist.  An end to something always seems sad, doesn't it?  Can I turn that existential frown upside down?  Can I give an inch and not give a damn if someone else takes a mile?  Can I not only see and listen but attempt to really understand someone's opposing viewpoint without feeling it will forever damage my code of conduct?   Comfort zones are called as such for a reason, you know.  Fear of the unknown is just waiting for us right outside that space.
     Is that something we can live or die with?  I know for a fact that a bodybag with our name on it is waiting for all of us.  Maybe the real question is how fast are we eager to fill it?  Happy Halloween.