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.
It is unfortunate many will not understand the impact this loss of life has had and will have on the family and friends of the victim in the coming weeks, but even more unfortunate that such an event was simply washed away with a hose, only to be forever forgotten as the public moves on. Such an event was not publicized because of a lack of care, but as a result of something much worse. Unfortunately, death is a normal occurrence many have come to accept around the world as the media decries the deaths of those "less important souls" and moves on to the more popular headlines which are indeed, more death, more evil, and more life wasted. As the words flash upon the television screen, viewers are anxious to here the details so they may say, "Wow, that's horrible," and move on to go to bed so they may continue life the next day. It is we who should be feeling loss, for every human life taken is a piece missing from us. As John Donne said, "any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."
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