Thandeka Chauke orates the words of a stateless person “I have observed being dead while alive”
Immediately I jolt in my seat by my easy acceptance Of this phrase that carries unfathomable inequalities The straining dichotomy of death and living normalized.
Why Have not I observed the stagnation of the world to struggles and horrors of many Broadcasted on our very screens Day after day Horrific images rushing in and taking capture of my mind Leaving me with feelings of inability and guilt.
Why Have not I grown the ability to take in then move on Day after day How to eradicate the tinge of sadness after I start laughing Hold up the front of a good moment.
And so I am in shock by how normality has etched itself into me The desensitization. If we as people have grown to develop numbness Slowly deadening our humanity Then what is the new mode of invoking emotional shock that can act as a catalyst to change? Yet how flawed are we as a society to even need our attention captured by some “new” thing? Thoughts after thoughts I start to buy into how collective resistance seems almost impossible in a day where division seizes unity.
And I try I try to dispel these thoughts with media With media and images and videos I try to have hope I hope because I truly believe emotion evokes action Through surges that are indescribable So large Enormous that I often satirically wonder how this earth can hold so much.
But is this enough? Is it selfish to say I want more?
