To those way down in the current genocide…

To those who died, from the rest of us _______

blessed enough to be alive and prosper

The only glittering sheen

Of a sordid gift

That the worst which could ever beset us

Illuminates

What to cherish dearly -

and what should never

be ignored

or forgotten.

Blessed art thou who keep the flame of love outwardly glowing,

Such that even cowardly murderers, state-sanctioned self-pity gangsters, cannot extinguish it.

This is what is means to live, large or small.

A mother acting as if not hungry

for her daughter to receive her daily bread,

while she starves,

to bring about a better tomorrow

somehow

through the life she created and tended…no matter what happens to her.

This will not falter as long as we can exist together, no matter how many might perish.

But what about the next genocide, or the coming long extinction - The Anthropocene?

We can only begin to answer those questions when we admit we are all responsible and accountable; when we admit it is happening, and when we are afraid to do anything about it we try to find a way to begin anyway.

Fear is a natural and perennial instinct. It should be embraced.

Courage is finding it in yourself to take the first step despite it, and carry the bride of fear with your intention.

Because to do otherwise is unbearable. To let things continue as they are is to become rotten in complacent misery.

My only use in the word “hope” is that somehow, in varied and disparate ways, we as individuals in our current time - as much as we can dare to call ourselves groups, tribes, generations - family;

that we can find the courage

NOT to destroy ourselves.