Indifference by Mark Spencer

I've been struggling with road rage
For more than thirty years.
The anger, and aggravation,
The ridicule and sneers.

And I've wondered why it happens,
Why I'm so quick to rage,
So I pondered this condition,
Like some poetic sage.

I discovered a simple truth,
A fact that clarifies.
Rage grows in those who do not look
Into their brother's eyes.

He's just another faceless fool,
An obstacle at best.
His purpose is to slow you down,
The same as all the rest.

Unless you look into his eyes,
He's hardly even real.
Without a face to gaze upon,
Detached is all you feel.

But this is not exclusive to
Our antics on the road.
Indifference reveals itself
In all the seeds we've sowed.

When death claims someone that you know,
One almost always cries.
But tears are rarely ever seen,
The day a stranger dies.

And what about the battlefield?
Is there an enemy,
When those we've been ordered to kill
Are friends, or family?

An enemy is just a "what",
A foe opposing you.
But give that enemy a face,
And he becomes a "who".

A stranger means nothing to us,
We don't weep when they die.
But if we called that person friend,
Their loss will make us cry.

The knowing changes everything,
For now they have a face.
They have a life that you know well,
A purpose and a place.

We'd stand by them through thick and thin,
And face any danger.
Yet every friend you'd do that for,
Started as a stranger.

And so potential can be found,
In every faceless fool.
To be the friend described within
The Bible's golden rule.

But strangers have no bond with us,
No life experience.
So all we have to offer them
Is our indifference.

Wess (67.170.200.196) -- Thursday, September 2 2010, 08:10 am

So true.
You make a very good point Mark. Thanks for another insightful masterpiece.

Tarna (75.16.232.3) -- Friday, September 3 2010, 10:03 pm

Indiffernce...
Hmm I too used to think of the faceless multitudes in a indifferent way.
But since the internet I have realized that strangers are not so strange.. They live, they breathe, they love, they feel loss and yes, die.

Perhaps we should offer them more than indifference. Maybe we should also offer them at least a smile and a prayer.

Another thought provoking writing Mark. Good work, as always :)

Megan (166.205.138.137) -- Saturday, September 4 2010, 03:19 am

I agree.
I agree with Tarna. The Internet has given strangers a way to connect, and learn about one another. Very thought provoking.

tim kitchen (91.105.169.67) -- Monday, September 27 2010, 02:26 pm

brilliant
brilliant poem and message

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