The Golden World
Alone, I sit and wonder, wonder where I am.
Here I lie completely infitesimial in the midnight sun.
I see my map and amaze myself.
Here I lie on the tempstatious shores of Great Slave Lake.
62 degrees north sounds so inconspicous, but every minute of latitude and longitude things are so different.
And who I am to complain?
I am a member of Amnesty International, which is to be commerated(and it has),
for showing the light and the golden highway to the condemmned.
I have seen the light from Cape Town to Ouagadougou.
From Yellowknife to Lilongwe.
From the vast hegemonious mountains of Missoula,
to the abysmal plains of Jerusalem.
Along the vast highways, which flow like a ribbon connecting insular groups of people
I sit to myself and tell myself how humble I am.
For I have heard, seen and fought against tradegies that happen in the world.
Civil Wars, genocide and horrendous human rights violations,
but why do we live in desolation, when we should be living in celebration.
We are not Xhosa, Blackfoot, or Salvadorean, but we are human beings.
All 6.5 billion of us.
What is so different from a person who lives in Tokyo versus a person who lives in Antananarivo?
Why do people always charactize themselves in arbitary groups,
when they should be searching for holistic solidarity?
The names of the battles rings in our minds,
Saratoga, Athens, and Ishlanwanda(sp).
We read about conquests of Tamerlame and Alexander,
but what the unifiying love of Peter Benenson or Rigoberto Menchu?
Yellowknife, Lilongwe, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Cape Town and Timbuktu,
really what's the difference between them, I ask you?
The obvious answer is not what I am looking for.
I am looking for the not so apparent.
But we are so ambivalent about the outside world, that we live in an isolated cage.
Some of us travel, but we fail to appreciate the culture,
especially when we attempt to harangue them in English.
I look at the highways, golden routes of dreams,
I just wonder what those lines on a map mean?
I come to the conclusion that instead of looking for solidarity, as some politicians claim,
they are symbols of hegemony despite everybodies dream.
And because of the aforementioned,
we forget about others,
how else can you explain the horrors in the world?
The cities ring in my mind
Yellowknife
Lilongwe
Tokyo
Antananarivo
Gaborone
Saskatoon
The countries show humanity, unfortuantly, that's the truth,
Zimbabwe
South Africa
Canada
Algeria
Andorra
Russia
Finland
Swaziland
Once again the long running question?
What keeps apart?
Especially that we should be loved.
For human life is precious
It really is nature's miracle
But I sometimes wonder if people appreciate it.
Then Keepers of flame light the candle,
because we are angels, at least to their perception.
But Sabina Carlson states miracles are not dry verses from scripture,
but rather in our hearts, dreams and inspirations.
That's brings me to the world's wonders,
Grand Canyon, Northern Lights and Manaslu
Alaska, Yosemite, Elbrus,
Antarctica, Kruger and Kakadu
Amongst those aforementioned places of light,
they are always a sight and they never fail to end the dark cold night
The night that envelopes many parts of the world,
hunger, AIDS, and tyrants.
Why is there an unfortuante irony?
People need to be loved but always feel so lazy?
Why is there an insatiable greed is this world,
but not a intrasignet love that should prevail?
But I guess I better light this candle,
As lay bunded on Yellowknife's rocky shore.
But like I said before,
In Amnesty I am the keeper of the flame.
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
Table Mountain had seen too many fights,
Sudan currently has a very long night,
and the million hills of Rwanda still echo in fright.
But what keeps apart?
Why are we alone?
What's with the self-serving interests
that alienates others' lives.
The abominable names still shiver in fright
The Holocaust, terrorists and Apartheid.
But all these sources trace to one thing: politics, oh what a sight.
But what Hitler, Bin Laden and Malan do/did not know
Is that we are human which what few people knew.
We all have our obligations, but they are quickly shuffled in the papers
of our our selfish dedications.
Seattle
Tuscaloosa
Winnipeg
Durango
More sparkling cities that shine in the night.
We are all human, please tell us
But this is a community where we can express ourselves,
it's a shame others are not so eloquenent.
But most people are involved in the race for ostentatious living,
that they forget the hell that are others are seeing.
And of course, as an Amnesty member, I know
And there is tangible evidence to show.
Inuvik
Murmamsk
Vladivostok
Ulaanbatar
Bratislava
Other cities I can think of.
So many cultures, yet one species: human beings.
Well, I wonder
As I finish my musings,
What makes so apart,
where we should be together,
with all our hearts.
Well spoken, if a bit long for my likings. It almost seems like an advertisement for Amnesty International or something you want to make sure everyone knows you are a member of. To be sure, being a member of AI is something that more people should do.
As for the question you ask, why we are one species but so separate, its a question with few good answers, and none of them will make people happy. You should ask that question not just in your personal musings but in the philosophy forum where it can be dissected and discussed better.