I never knew my mother’s father. (Maybe that’s for the best.) But now all four of my Grandparents are gone, along with a couple of my aunts, too. I’ve had to say goodbye to far too many family members, friends, musical inspirations. As recently as two years ago I was a personal caregiver for someone who died of old age. This world is full of people slipping away constantly, disappearing into the past, out of reach and locked away from us like a punishment the entire world must endure.
And yet, every moment that this is not on my mind, the news tries to assert itself. Here’s more of our President, here’s another horrible celebrity that got away with despicable behavior because of money, here’s a person with no good sense in his head trying to tell us that school shootings are just a by-product of Democracy.
And yet – MEANWHILE, even – I know I am not the only one. All of these people, statistically, must be in the same boat. They have family and friends who have passed, they have seen creative influences die, have seen the past accumulate while the future seems to disintegrate. Anymore, when news and politics start nagging at me, I have to wonder now:
What horrors and sadness are they covering up for, what losses are affecting them so much that they are racist, are pro-violence, are illogical, or perhaps they have experienced so much loss that they enjoy seeing everyone else suffer while they are insulated in some new and temporary way?
What losses are they not dealing with as they go about their lives?
Austin Rich 