How do you carry
The weight of all the sorrow in this world
How do you cope
With all the pain and people getting hurt

I sometimes feel like I am drowning
In a stream of cruelty and rage
That leads into an ocean
Of violence and hate

Why do you hit your neighbor’s face
And don’t take them by their hand
Instead of causing pointless conflicts
Why don’t you just try to understand

How can we do this to each other
When in truth we’re all the same
Why can’t we solve it all together
Instead of pushing around the blame

Why is it always more important
To know whose fault it is
Than to seek for a solution
That might fix all of this mess

We dropped our moral compass
Everyone is lost and so afraid
We keep on building our walls
And live in prisons we create

There’s so much beauty all around
That we should appreciate much more
But we’re taking it for granted
Instead of peace we still choose war

I often get so tired
When I read all of the news
Our humankind is damaged
We’re all beaten up and bruised

There’s enough for everyone
If we’d only start to share
If we’d reach out to each other
And finally start to care

Everything you do and say
And everything you give
Effects the ones around you
And creates the world in which we live

Yet I have not lost my faith
Though we first might hit the ground
Before true change can come
Before we can turn the wheel around

©mywritingtherapy

I thought I had to share a little something about what influenced this poem and why I wrote it. It was the story of two homosexual girls in London who were threatened and attacked by a couple of guys on a public transport. The guys first forced them to make out in front of them and when the women refused to do so they beat them up. This incident really got to me and left me feeling very emotional for a couple of days. It broke my heart and made me so heavy and helpless because again I realized how much unjustified cruelty and hate is out there in this world. I can not believe how people can do something like that to each other. How people use their physical dominance in order to threaten weaker people and hurt them. I know there is so much more violence going on out there but this case made me particularly upset. Here’s why: It happened in a civilized country/city in a public space where people should feel safe and secure. It happened in a stable and wealthy part of the world, a place where nobody has to fight for water, food, safety etc. Hence, there’s no struggle for survival which might be a reason and justification why people would start acting more violent according to their basic, primal instincts. But there was absolutely no justification to behave like a cave man! And that’s why in my opinion this incident was cruelty in its pure form. A physically stronger perpetrator forcing his power over a weaker victim for no obvious or justified reason! And that is so hard for me to understand. What were these guys thinking? Do they like to push around someone weaker than them? Are they so insecure with their own sexuality that they have to force two girls to perform a sexual act for them? If they are offended by homosexual behavior why do they provoke it in the first place? Would they have acted the same if they knew that their victims were as strong as them? That they could actually fight back? Did it give them pleasure to cause fear and pain? Did they feel strong? Did they feel powerful? Did they think it was funny? A joke? Did they regret their actions afterwards? Why did they start all of this? Why did they do this? Why? Why? Why? These are questions I just can not find any answers to and that’s why stories like that always break me apart.
They are the reason why I stopped reading the news on a regular basis. Stuff like that always makes me think what I could do about it? What could I do to prevent something like that from happening? And then I get even more desperate and lost because I know I can not fix it. I can not fix it all.

However, every story like this one firms my believe and demonstrates that we are all part of this planet and the society we are living in and that every single one’s behavior matters and has an effect on how this planet and this society looks like. Whatever you do will draw circles and everything you do or say has an effect on the people and the environment around you. It determines whether we can feel safe or threatened, whether we live in peace with each other or in war. And this thought then pushes me to try and be the best person that I can be. To be respectful with the people that surround me, to help them if they are in need, to show them that I care, to understand their side even if their behavior might trigger something in me, to reflect on my own actions and thoughts and to choose my words carefully and not offend anyone on purpose. It is not easy and it takes strength and a lot work because everyone of us has a lot to carry and this life is so complex and difficult for everyone of us. But I guess if we all made an effort to act in the best way possible within our own surroundings this world could be a much better and more secure and peaceful place. And maybe we are already at a point where this transition into a more peaceful society won’t happen without a big crash first. Maybe we need to hit the ground in order to really wake up for once but if this is needed than we should accept it and learn from it so we can turn the wheel around and make this a better place for everyone that comes after us.
#thehippiehasspoken