Procession of Death

This city will eat you alive...
The way cruel selfish eyes ignore a homeless man's empty belly,
The way hours of your day are spent at a job that will bring you money with no lasting happiness,
The way the subway trains demolish and discombobulate human life,
And the way death is disguised behind the pretext of "police activity".
Today I stand on the very platform that less than 24 hours ago, a man died. 
He hurled himself into the tracks (according to reports) and was severed into pieces...
As I stand here on the platform and look at where his body laid yesterday on the tracks and street, it is astonishing to me how quickly the rest of this city keeps on moving.
Someone lost their life, and yet the city takes not even a day to mourn...
I wonder how many people actually know about the death? 
I wonder if they even care? 
Death is a very hard concept for me to swallow, whether I know them personally or not. 
Did the man commit suicide or was he pushed? 
Regardless, I bowed my head and prayed for him and his family this morning while waiting for my train, but I hate to believe that's all we can do... 
I recently read a quotation that said something to the effect of: each passing day is the constant movement towards death.
Life is so fleeting.
Notice your breath today. 
Breathe in the summer sun, and warm heat through your living nostrils. 
Be happy, and chose today to take a step towards joy.
Life is fragile enough - we are only made of organs, skin, and muscle which can be stripped in an instant and your body parts washed away with a fireman's hose. 
Decide to acknowledge that frailty today and choose happiness.   

Umoja

Somewhere between 20,000 feet into the air while we are cutting through wisps of cotton clouds and beyond the eyes of those on the ground, and our soaring altitude of 38,000 feet, I regain my heart and my spirit is awakened with a renewed sense of joy.  This is my seventh flight in less than two months and the window seat of my various 737s have become home.  A place where my eyes can be amazed by the landscapes just underneath my feet, and where my mind can transport itself to the grassy acres imaging a life not lived.  At times anger fills my heart, upset that God would give us so much world, but so little time to experience it all.  An impossible task to see every blade of green grass or particle of gritty sand.  It is in these moments of dismay that I can clearly articulate and understand the importance of learning from and listening to others.  This world was meant to be lived and experienced together.