I wonder…
A timely poem emerged as I boarded my flight back home to see my family.
I wonder if we had it wrong all this time.
I wonder if more bigger faster longer harder was
Never the metrics for aliveness.
I wonder if the object of this game wasn’t supposed to be longevity,
But levity.
I wonder if we are misusing the number of days spent on Earth to measure richness,
Like using a ruler to measure sweetness,
Or a thermometer to measure heart-fullness.
I have seen an honest life lived eight years in joy
Generate more care and love and connection
Than a complacent life lived eighty years in dullness.
Eight years long.
Eighty years short.
We strive to survive
To stay safe in silence,
Our comfort killing our compassion.
Our connection cut.
Our kindness kept hidden.
Our souls stifled, strangled...
Estranged from one another
Until we forget and are
Forgotten
from our families.
Forced from our humanity,
Friendless.
Frantically clawing our way out of this
Loneliness epidemic
That is lacerating the unseen lines of
Community and camaraderie,
Leaving us wondering
Why we feel so alone.
So desperate and afraid
That we denounce and destroy
Anything that looks and sounds and smells
Different than us.
Believing our beliefs
Are what set us apart,
Make us exceptional,
One out of many rather than
One of many...
When our beliefs are meant to be
Blended together,
Bridging the crevasse within, bringing out
Curiosity.
Celebrated, even
Shared.
I wonder
What would happen if
We chose to tweak our metrics
Turning the dial from quantity to quality,
from performance to presence,
From virality to vitality,
From girth to growth,
From expanse to depth,
From academic knowledge to experienced wisdom,
From IQ to EQ,
From lived to loved.
From safety to sovereignty.
Would we still count the number of days
we spend on this earth?
Would it matter anymore,
if we consciously claimed each day we receive and get to
Live,
Loud,
Fully in
Integrity and
Capacity?
I wonder what we would
Create together?
I wonder what our
Conversations would sound like?
I wonder what we would
Wonder, then?