Sometimes, I feel like I'm being crushed by a falling forest Or like I'm caught in an avalanche and can't breathe - The snow rapidly cementing around me. Sometimes, I think I grew up observing too deeply, Witnessing too much too young. Sometimes, I think I understood the weight of this world too soon, Losing my innocence in the truth of it all. And, I wish, I could save those who lived lightly - Those who were lost too soon. I could give them my oxygen, my organs, my blood - Anything that would save someone who should be alive Anything that would prevent happy lives from turning hard, From being tainted by the lens of loss. Take bits of me to save them And maybe then I will finally feel light - Hollow of a heavy heart and tired lungs, Just ashes in the wind, With pieces of me giving life to all of the people Who were pushed over the edge Before they were meant To fall. In memory of Mike Wynn, who lived lightly and was lost too soon.
http://canada.odmp.org/officer/704-park-warden-michael-wynn
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I grew up in a tiny village in the Rocky Mountains, where I had a really strong sense of community. My neighbours were my family. I was not only raised by my parents, but also my neighbours. They taught me some of the most essential lessons I know. They were a huge influence on who I am today. In African proverbs, they say it takes a village to raise a child, and it's true. Everyone was always looking out for each other. Everyone cared. And when my family moved away when I was 10 years old, I lost that sense of community - we all kind of did. And I think I've spent my life searching for it ever since. Something has always been missing. I've never quite gotten my sea legs. Everywhere and nowhere has always been home. But in the words of Taiye Selasi, "We can never go back to a place and find it exactly where we left it. Something, somewhere, will always have changed; most of all, ourselves." And it was an important move. I am grateful for it in many ways - it allowed me to experience so much that I wouldn't have otherwise. But there are things I've always missed. And as a result, I've searched for this sense of community elsewhere, in all the nooks and cranny's of the world.
I finally found it again 9 years later in travelling, amongst both local people and travellers - people who would care simply because you are a human being. People who would look out for you, help you, make sure you were safe, because you are human. That was enough of a reason to care. And that community of people is probably the most remarkable one I've ever experienced, from both the giving and receiving ends. Maybe it's rooted in the fact that there is no long-term commitment to bear the weight of others lives, to always be a shoulder to lean on, to always show up and care. It's possible. But I'd like to believe it's because being a human who has feelings and a story is enough of a reason to care. Enough of a reason to pause and ask yourself how you could possibly be a kind, compassionate individual in any given situation. Enough of a reason to treat complete strangers as equals; as people who deserve to be seen. And maybe these people, who are curious about the world and each other, are actually willing to recognize these facts of humanity. Maybe it's why we all want to leave the Western world and go somewhere different - go somewhere where people actually understand the meaning of life and what it is to be human; somewhere where community is the foundation off which society is built. And here, in whatever this "Western world" is, we aren't supposed to be humans. Our society is not really built for caring. Nobody seems to want to know the actual, entire human that you are and what has led you to become that way. It's the reason we label people with loaded terms like alcoholic, addicted, homeless, disabled, depressed, mentally ill, reckless, destructive, and the list goes on - we just pick a label and dismiss. We've all been guilty of it at some point. It's the reason our society is so divided. It's the reason we're all secretly kind of miserable. It's the reason we feel alone. Because if you acknowledge the raw truth of another person's human experience, it will most likely reveal some painful truth about ourselves or our own lives that is easier not to know. Because it's easier to push people aside with labels, with dismissive comments, or out of fear. It's much easier. It is also a much lonelier and much less meaningful way to live. At the core of our beings, we are all the same. We are all human. And the scariest thing of all, is those who are too afraid to accept that as true. Those who are too afraid to stop and try to understand. Those who choose the simpler route of walking away or dismissing the challenges an individual may have faced. And in a society full of "highly educated" people, still so few understand. They skipped the lesson on humanity. The fact that at the core of our beings, we are all the same, just never seeped into their bones. It was never absorbed in the rush of it all. I like the places where being human is enough. At the core of our beings, we are all the same. We are all human. And that should be enough of a reason to take the time to try to understand. To open your mind. To look out for someone. To acknowledge an experience or feeling foreign to you as legitimate. To accept. To not dismiss. To truly see people in all of their humanity. To treat people as equals. To be on someone's team. Being human should be enough. |