When I Was Young

07/07/2005

When I was young, I believed, deeply, that at the core of every human beat a caring, loving heart.

I rather miss those naive days.

This morning, as I awoke to the news from NPR and heard the report of the (yet again) rabid destruction humans have wrought, this time in London, my gut tightened into the "if there is a god, why did s/he bother creating this unholy species" knot.

Sure, we are capable of kindness. But, this morning, I think we don't choose that road very often.

Many mornings, I think this.

And don't be telling me it is "the others". Those Americans, those Muslims, those liberals, those conservatives, those... who ever those "others" are who are not us.

In my heart I know; we are us. We are the others. We are One, and we have failed.

Failed to choose kindness instead of greed.
Failed to choose kindness instead of coveting power.
Failed to choose kindness instead of hate.

What will we choose in this very moment? Or the next.