An Explanation for the General Ignorance of Human Suffering
An Explanation for the General Ignorance of Human Suffering
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He can recognize that people hurt
20 seconds- one child dies of starvation
He hungers for knowledge
How many people die every day?
Who is at war?
How often do people hurt?
30 seconds - ten children under the year of five die
Either he bathes in childish ignorance
Or he is unable to translate facts into emotion
40 seconds- one suicide
But it certainly is not that he lacks facts of human suffering
It is undeniable that he is painfully aware of his own
42 seconds- one person suffers a heart attack
How is it that his heart bleeds for the cancerous patient in the novel
And the murdered child in the movie
And yet he carries on as if-
50 seconds- one person dies of heart failure
There is an inherent contradiction built into the human heart
He is capable of feeling for one beat
And even more capable of ignoring the suffering of others
During the beats following
60 seconds- one person murdered
He wishes his empathy could travel across oceans
And that his veins would reach and crawl so that his heart
Could touch
His heart could feel for all of those who need someone to feel for them
75 seconds- two babies aborted
But his heart is only the size of his fist
And as much as he tries
And as far as his veins can reach
If he were to fill his heart with the blood and pain of others
90 seconds- fifteen people die of cancer
It would burst