Apart

We are none of us apart

Even as we exhale, it is inhaled by others

The sun that shines upon me shines upon my neighbor as well

The moon that dominates my night sky is the same moon even those who are far away see

As my own ship is raised by the tides, so too are the vessels of those around me...

Even the carbon released by burning coal in West Virginia heats up the air for those in Australia

In this way, one is connected to all

In this way, I am connected to my friend even as I am connected to my enemy

In this way, there is no difference between me and my friend

In this way, there is no difference between me and my enemy

We are none of us apart

Dead Certain

Even as we sit on our chairs, it is not a chair that we sit upon....

The atoms of the chair are not solid

The space between each atom, not filled

So what do we sit upon ?


The image from my TV is so real

I reach out to touch that image

Yet, it is not there

So what did I see ?


You feel the pain of the needle as it pierces your skin one day

The next day, the same pain is felt, as another whose skin is so pierced you witness

Is this the same pain ?


In such ways, how REAL are what we touch and feel ?

In such ways, how certain are we each time ?

Attachment

"Attachment is the root of suffering," said one man long ago

And that we are not so immune....

The baby cries as her rattle is taken away
So too a grown man as his house quickly burns to the ground

A boy searches frantically for a favorite old shoe
While nearby, a little girl longs for her missing doll

The veiled woman screams as her house explodes in the desert
Five thousand miles away, a mother falls to the ground as she accepts the folded flag

Whether great or small
Whether tragedy felt at home or over there

We are not so immune