With those thousands and millions of pieces you have been broken into
How long can you keep on fixing them to get through one more day?
And with a cracked heart and crushed soul
How long till u count yourself among the living fray?
With this unthinking unfeeling existence of yours
How long till u tire and call it a day?
Absorbing and soaking the millions of hurts and hearts lying scattered around
How long till you are able to contain them without a single moment of peace that can be found?
Remember Mother, you taught me not to lie and not to cheat
To always stay away from arrogance, pride and greed
Father, I remember your values that being a good human being always came first and foremost
I remember the childhood stories that my grandparents always had to offer
Where humility was prized and hubris was despised
Where love, care, empathy were the virtues never denied
Hatred, violence and unnecessary aggressionwere the vices that could only be hurtful
To oneself as well as the rest, so going down that road was always considered undesirable
I also remember how proud all of you were of me
For I loved to read so that I could grow into a fuller human being
And now when I have turned out to be a human being who values life
Why is it, that peace and content elude me, why can I find around me nothing but only strife?
Why am I told that only some lives are valuable while some others are not even worth a dime?
Why is it, that hubris of some is glorified and put on a pedestal, if it was such a crime?
Why do pieces of land and paper rule over peoples’ hearts and minds?
Why do those living and breathing fail to make even the smallest of dents, even if it may be for the smallest of time?
How did it happen that reading and knowing and thinking and questioning came to be frowned upon?
And shouting and killing and lying and deceiving became the utmost virtues to be gloriously crowned?
How did it happen that a human being became so apathetic to the plight of others?
How did it happen that we remembered to clinch to every other identity with the sole exception of that of a human being, I always wonder?
I am in search for the answers to these questions Mother!
For it is killing me to continue to live in a way any other….
Nivedita Dwivedi is an educationalist.
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