I.
by Roy Cureton
Haiti just fell apart. One second it was standing and the next there were people in rocks, as though they had been trapped there by a cruel hand smashing them down from above. I heard about it, and I could not imagine the screams, I could not stand to be made to stand and listen to them. I would break fingers digging and then I would die on the pile of rocks and make them heavier. Because I am in shock in light of the times:
Sometime ago there was a tsunami, and a hurricane, and someone dropped bombs in the cover of night one summer I was away at camp, a war started in the middle east after someone crashed a plane, money got a lot of people in trouble, terrorists started terrorizing everywhere, people started shooting at crowds of people all the time and then intermittently, the Earth started heating up, people became aware of the genocide in Africa, a sexually transmitted disease became pandemic, a true education was devalued in the West…
the list can go so long…
but i believe that i have made my point…
When I think about 2010 I will think about trying to wake up from a dream and feeling trapped behind my eyelids. That feeling that I can end the uneasiness, I know how, I know I can open my eyes, but for some reason it is harder than I realize and I just struggle for what seems like a long time. I feel empowered to bring it all under control, even though–who can ever really have control of anything?, but I always forget the step between realizing that I want to wake up and actually being awake.
And when I am awake I think how great, how far we have come as a species that I can be aware of a dream rather than fear it.
Though, frankly, I’d trade that for a peaceful Haiti skyline.
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