LJ Idol- Prompt 9- Edgelord

[drippedonpaper]

Humans bleed red
No matter their skin color.
All broken bodies
Used to laugh.

Blood is life.
So often it drips for politics,
A mother's son dies for a leader's power.

We becomes desensitized
To hate,
"He's just an edgelord."
"She just wants attention."

True.
But how about,
"He doesn't know what love is."
She is hurting."

It's so easy for me to dismiss
The statuses and photos flooding my feed:
So many Go Fund Me's,
So many petitions.
Everyone needs a dollar,
Needs a job,
Needs a chance.

I'm tired,
Numb,
I can't solve them all
So too often I do nothing.
Who deserves my time?
Why do I need to choose?
What if I help the wrong one?

But how did we get here?
Too many of us
Did nothing.

Perhaps that's the saddest part,
In all our ability to know
All the info in the world.
We're just overwhelmed,
Paralyzed.

When life was small,
There were only so many neighbors to wave at.

I can't give up.
But part of each week,
I try to also do the small.

I'm working on my front flower bed.
It's something I can touch,
Something I can change.
A place without shooting drills.

Life is a mix:
Breathe,
Garden,
Vote.
And when able
Defend the rights of all
To plant flowers without fear.
To sleep without the sound of bombs.
To sit in schools without gunfire.

Don't get paralyzed,
By fear or hate.
Sometimes,
Nurture your soul,
Make a life worth fighting for.