This morning on my way to work I came across a familiar picture that I had not taken into serious account up until this day. I saw how poverty De-humanizes one and brings them to a point where the only difference between them and Ravens is that they can win any fight for food if they were to face each other. I saw mothers and children waiting at a dump side for food, Ravens were lurking at a distance trying to survive too. I saw hunger and strife in those defeated spirits and I saw how human dignity was of little significance for them.
I saw lost dreams, which were once alive possibilities, and I saw mothers and fathers passing down a legacy of failure to young innocent souls. I looked at myself facing what I could have easily become but somehow my path turned out differently.
I started to question myself and the choices I make, I thought how many times have I bought things I don’t really need just because I can? How many times do I ask God for things without stopping to thank him for what I already have? This morning I came face to face with a reality other people live on a daily basis and this has become a norm to them. The scales on my eyes fell off as I became familiar with victims of circumstances.
I realized that it is not that I’m clever or smart but its just grace, which put me in a position where I don’t have to fight with ravens for anything. I took a minute to say thank you to God for I could have been one of those people lining up to get garbage, which they saw as a meal for their families. I said thank you with a heavy heart though as I realized how many times I’ve walked into a restaurant to buy food that I would not even finish, once again just because “I could”.
That picture disturbed me as I saw people who had made their lives graves, not out of their own accord but because they found themselves having to be rivals with ravens. Food had become a very serious commodity to them and they treasured it as if it was gold. I began to understand thankfulness and being grateful for what we have
Today, human and Raven had become one and neither of them cared about some of us on pedestals. The food I would easily chuck away is what they would consider a decent meal for the week. The meat I consider off because of some smell is what would help them have something in their stomachs in order to take their ARV’s. I saw human fighting raven for food and each marking their territory with sounds of survival. I stopped and I asked myself how long, will my people fight for what should be a human right to life. How long will my people fight with ravens for food???
published in print in Poetry Potion 2013.01 On Being Human