from France
News cycles devoted
to tragedy,
to the lives lost,
to the terrorists who
invaded our quiet lives
again.
We change our pictures to
red white blue
Vow solidarity
Forgetting about
"freedom fries"
at least, for now.
The world coming
together,
United against hate.
It's a beautiful thing
to see.
But where is our unity
for Beirut?
for Iraq?
for Syria?
for Kenya?
Hundreds of voices
silenced each day,
but no flags fly in those colors
across our profiles.
The news
mentions those tragedies
then moves on,
to other
"more important"
stories.
Where is our union
against the hundreds of lives lost
here
in this country
to violence
every week?
What makes a country worthy
of having the news
devoted to those lost?
What makes a life worthy
of such attention?
How do we choose who to mourn?
Why do we choose who to mourn?
Great piece. I have thought about some of the questions that you raise, and I think that we just have much stronger cultural and historic ties to France than we do to Lebanon, Syria, Kenya, and Iraq. Good or bad, the difference in our reactions is just due to tribalism, I guess.
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