Lukewarm (poem)

We watch
And we ponder.
And we question.
And we pray.
And we shout.
And we scream.
We cry out.

"Lord, Lord, why have you forsaken me?"

Why have you forsaken them?

We watch.
And we don't act.
And we might care.
But we follow
"In our hearts"
We live
"In our hearts"
We don't act.
We desert.
No amount of caring...

Will make a change.

We care.
But we don't act.
We don't listen.
We talk.
We don't listen.

But we scream...
And we shout...
And we wonder...
And we doubt...

But we don't do a thing
To change.

We watch...
We stand on the sidelines.
As we see the pain and suffering
Of all those around us.
Distant lands,
Our own soil,
Our own classrooms.
Our own offices.

Our own homes.
Our own hallways.
Our own bathroom stalls.
Our own showers.
Our own bedrooms.

We ignore.
We deny.
We deny.
Denial's not just a river in Egypt.

We repress
And we deny.
We watch the news as other people die.

"Oh that's so terrible."
Glad I'm not there.
And go back to eating our dinners.

We watch.
We watch genocides
and hurricanes
and tsunamis
and earthquakes
and shootings
and suicides
and murders
and car accidents
and trainwrecks
and cancer
and other diseases.

We watch.
But we don't listen.

We spend
our money on
the newest electronic
toys.

We spend $200
for that new phone.
And impulsively donate $10
to "charity".

We are nothing.
We are deaf to the cries of real anguish.
We cover our eyes and our ears even as we watch.

We deny.
With every step we take to walk away...

We are selfish.
We don't care.
We...
could do something more.

Oh Lord, oh Lord,
Why are we wasting our prayers on the things that do not matter?
Why are we not asking to be equipped,
To take on,
This misery we've made for ourselves.

Why.

Why don't we stop

Watching?

And start...

acting?