It Goes On

Many are dead. More than a million in our country alone. I know people are always dying, but the widespread show of indifference—no, contempt—for the sick and suffering was a terrible revelation.

After the Rwanda massacre, where neighbors killed neighbors literally hacking off limbs, the survivors from both sides had to go on, living next to each other. With the terrible knowledge of the capacity for cruelty.

We are now in the same situation.

I think about this all the time. I’m a volunteer grave digger. There are no paying jobs. And somebody needs to dispose of the bodies or we’ll see even more unnecessary disease and death.

You know, if this terrible plague was exacerbated by a lack of discipline alone, that wouldn’t have been so bad. At least not so bad for morale. But because people made irrational excuses for cruelty and irresponsibility to defend their ideologies and religions, that sealed it.

As a species, we not only lack the capacity to survive. We lack the moral standing to deserve to survive.

Look at this guy. I can’t tell if he was a Baptist, a Muslim or an atheist. I can’t tell what his political views were. He’s just a corpse. Like the others. But I can see that he’s no longer cruel or mean-spirited, if he ever was. He’s just dead.

I keep digging. It goes on.

Remember, while you are alive, I’m coming for you. I’m gonna bury you. Do you deserve death? Do you deserve to be gone and forgotten? Or to be loved and remembered?

It’s up to you. Right now you must decide.

I’ll be here with my shovel.