Viridity
by Kevin Mercurio
We forget how minuscule we are,
like a smart car in this Universal Vehicular Show.
Subpar, we travel slow,
day-to-day trying not to know:
we are but a small piece of the puzzle.
Muzzled,
not by choice but by uncorrected routines.
Ruffled,
not by unprovided necessities,
but by meaningless amenities.
Scuttled,
like cattle from place to place.
Home, work, school, webspace,
depending on the case-by-case.
Strict schedule, we try and lace
a daily scheme like a new skate.
Pace ourselves, hoping we don’t stray away
from our self-made play.
Okay,
this sounds morbid,
but I frustrate such hate for I can’t stand the insipid.
For the river of time is rapid,
and I know there are others trapped in.
So I share you my story.
I wasn’t always like this.
Never pissed,
sent a flying fist,
or said "screw this".
Like a kindhearted snake, I wouldn’t hiss,
nor question the idea of why we exist.
I was raised in religion,
born in Canada after my parent’s migration
to an opportunistic life that was above satisfaction.
Why this nation?
A better education and health care system.
Vibrant, coloured culture like a prism,
shining streams of acceptance, even through a schism.
That didn’t stop the bullying, the derision,
the undisputed hierarchy of social status.
A system that stacked us,
attacked us,
into a corner, it backed us.
We were supposed to accept this?
Yes.
Kids will be kids, bygones be bygones, girls be girls.
This tautological reasoning is perplexing.
Our minds stay warped, accepting,
crediting that adults have lived through it and turned out fine.
But is man, kind?
Do we not steal and lie?
When someone gives you lemons,
do they at times not squeeze them in our eyes?
I have come to realize,
that such a realization is not the common mentality.
But through this dark written soliloquy,
there is hope.
I started to think,
and the very act of thinking changed everything.
In a blink,
moments wouldn’t stink,
as I began to discover the links.
I was tickled pink!
True happiness is not found.
Dumbfound, it is created.
Knowledge penetrated and perpetrated by others,
circumnavigated in their pursuit for their own happiness.
Derived from the experiences of ourselves,
and guided by the recounting of history books on shelves.
Reading, writing, recalling,
is life really mundane?
Hell no.
Though there is pain and disdain,
we must not eradicate but educate.
Fluctuate the mind today
so that we say, “Fuck it, I’ll get there my way”.
Let this be a message to the population,
struggling in exasperation,
walking through depression in desperation
to find an easy solution.
Our society is constantly ensuring vindication
on the hardships of its people.
And while I may not have triumphed an addiction,
hear that I write this after fruition,
after hitting my personal rock bottom.
Unstuck cotton from my ears,
plucked the rotten out my eyes,
rinsed my mouth with soap,
ripped the gloves off my hands,
and unplugged that which was shoved up my nose,
so I could use the senses evolutionarily bestowed.
Acquiring fact after fact,
logically deducing that:
we’re all a blank slate,
until we educate.
_____
“There’s one super power left on the planet, and that’s the 7 billion people. The 7 billion of us who cause all these problems. The same 7 billion who, by the way, will resolve them all.”
– Simon Anholt