Memorial Day weekend

I had the pleasure of seeing not only a Klezmer band perform in front of starbucks and a group of breakdancers, but also got to go to a hip hop dance party. Who knew one night could be so snazzy?




I also got to see the underbelly. It wasn't where I expected to find it. It wasn't a dark alleyway or a seedy bar or a broken down part of town with the hint of freshly burned crack in the air. No, it was the human underbelly, the sins of man, the selfishness and greed. It was jealousy with its green wings unfurled. It was restlessness and lack of sleep and lack of compassion...lack of forgiveness... lack of empathy.

There is a world that exists which is human. It is based on emotion and love and hate and passion. Then, there is a world of logic and reason and business and lines. The first, though many times thought to be human, is actually the animal side. It is instinctive and guttural and real. The second is a creation of society. It is a structure that does not gel with emotion.

I have seen the two collide in shards and years of pent up aggression and doubt bubble forth with ferocious froth. I have seen fists fly through panes of glass and pain unfurl, held back for so long.

I find that ultimately the crowds of people divide. Some go left and some go right and I am there, alone, in the middle. I pick up my feet and walk away, never to be part of either group, lucky to be blessed with at least a small amount of peace with the solitary path.

I explore the world alone and I observe from the outside. I went to a dance club and sat at the bar slowly working my way through three beers and watching the space fill with people, many of them trying so hard. I felt like a statue, almost invisible, but still there. I could see them all so clearly as being water glasses with varying degrees of emptiness, hoping that if they danced close enough to a fuller glass that some of the gyration might make the excess water spill into their own.

Oh, we are simple creatures full of lust and hunger. We yearn to be held but are so scared of feeling. I look from the outside,with downturned lips, fire in my eyes, glass in my belly.

I remember the ones who fell and died and gave themselves so that I could eat popcorn and dip it in cheddar cheese. A death so noble would be exquisite.

Photography used with the kind permission of the photographer,
Carrie Thomas.

Educational enlightenment on evil yet sometimes necessary concepts provided by wikipedia.

Any similarity to situations or individuals real, fictional or implied to be real or fictional is really fictional and purely the fabrication of the author's very unspecific imagination. No conclusions, facts, concepts, or opinions about individuals and/or situations real, fictional or implied to be real or fictional should be based upon the content of this rant.