The Man Standing on the Street Corner

Have you ever really looked at the people around you as you go through this world? At times, I'm sure you have, just for a fleating moment, but then we quickly go back to blinding ourselves to those around us, because, well, we have problems of our own. We don't want to take in any more than we already have to deal with on our own. But some time really stop and look at that guy on the street corner. Do you see the glazed look in his eyes? Do you see the weight he carries on his shoulders? Do you see the pain that eminates from his very core? He has no one to share that eternal struggle with. No one. There is no one on this earth that he feels can help him unyolk the burden he drags and has dragged for as long as he can remember. This man lives The Divine Comedy as you and I do. He cannot look to help another because he cannot help himself, and there is no one to help him. And so we all bury ourselves as a society, steadily reaching a level of frustration in which we snap. Frenzy is a common way to pretend we have not yolked ourselves to pain. We go a certain kind of crazy, and in that supposedly civilized insanity we keep our minds conciously free of where we are and how we truly feel. It gives us an excuse for why we will not stop and notice the pain of others, and it gives a temporary numbness to our own pain.

But that man on the street corner, the one with the gray beard and the glassy eyes, the one who bears the weight of his world on his shoulders.... Next time you see him, really look at him. Because he is you.