Word
Nobody really gives a damn about anything, despite the platitudes, til the hammer comes down and they are hurting.
“The dogs bark. The caravan passes.” - Sufist saying.
People are strange.
Or perhaps I’m strange.
It’s either or.
People bitch and moan about
the most banal things;
their hockey team hasn’t won for 4 days
their hairdresser is on holiday
the price of gas has gone up 10 cents.
the weather is much colder than this time last year.
YET
about the things that matter
they’ll only bitch and moan
if it’s a direct hit on them.
Xyghurs in torture chambers?
yawn, stretch.
Palestinians bombed to bits?
change the channel.
Starvation in the Sahel?
where is that?
Nobody gives a fuck unless
they are being screwed, pinched, pushed.
It is that simple.
Our moral microscopes register
nothing unless injustice
is right in our face and our
bottom line is crossed
and we are feeling the hurt.
If not
we just carry on with our platitudes
and watch it all on TV
like the world only matters
if and because
it is happening to us.
Hell,
I can’t blame anyone for thinking
this whole life, existence thingamajigger
is just a simulation,
a fiction of our own imaginations
and it only gets real
when our VR glasses fog up.
Can’t blame anyone
for being the callous cunts they are
curled up in their never never land
hibernating ‘til the pain comes their way.
Fuck it.
Who needs a better world when
we are doing ok and
there is toast to burn and
beers in the fridge?
Let’s all just dance
and fiddle while
Rome burns.
Hell wasn’t that
long ago
anyways?
Let’s all just wait
for judgement day.
and find what comes out
in the wash.