Trask Avenue

We watch the world like it is a video game, full of carnage and mayhem, but never tactile or real. We watch chaos erupt in metropolises, cities, and towns. We watch protectors turn aggressor. We watch frustration turn to anger and anger turn to rage and rage turn to destruction. We watch military grade weapons filter into the hands of the unprepared and unstable. We watch youthful fervor morph into impulsive, life-changing consequences. We watch buildings burn and people die.

We watch leaders disregard root causes and jump to facile blame and hollow solutions. We watch as words are misconstrued and intent is bastardized. We watch bitterness replace empathy and indecency replace compassion. We watch plausible deniability become the reflex response. We watch the sheltered shriek with indignant soundbites. We watch newscasters inflame rather than inform. We watch bullies rewarded and intolerance embraced. We watch people not practice what they preach.

We watch truth labeled as conspiracy. We watch the embrace of the preposterous at the expense of complexity. We watch perception replace reality. We watch everything reduced to a punchline or meme. We watch portfolios bloat and paychecks shrink. We watch contagions spread and shoulders shrug. We watch expertise dismissed and ignorance celebrated. We watch as if the lessons of history are irrelevant. We watch the world turn away while we become unrecognizable. We watch the relentless sound and fury, but miss the nuanced perspective. We watch the death of the common good.

We watch all of this happen elsewhere to other people. We watch and we watch and we watch until it finally arrives at our door. When that happens, we no longer watch. We act. We act to foster change. We act to seize the light. We act as if lives depended on it. We act. And when we act others watch like it is a video game.