Keeping a Close Eye

It's a dangerous world and evil does exist. It sounds like a statement that was likely made at the recent NRA National Meeting, but sadly it's true. 

In recent weeks, we have seen terrorism in Boston, and now a whole other kind of horror in Cleveland. It's quite possible that in both cases, that someone saw what was going on, but just didn't recognize it.

As a writer, I often say ours is a practice that brings attention to the things we see that others may not recognize. Sometimes we ask questions. If we are brave, we ask hard questions. In light of recent events, perhaps this is a practice that should be adopted by more than writers, artists and others who's occupation is based in expression. Critical thought is not ours to hoard.

Living in frustrating times is hard. As a nation, we are disenchanted with our leaders and their inability or lack of will to compromise. Meanwhile many continue to struggle with the aftermath of the mortgage crisis and unemployment.

Attention paid to our owns situation may seem like apathy, but I don't think that it is. We are simply distracted, too distracted to think about things we see that don't seem right. While we may be watching every penny spent in this first world existence, third world horrors occur in our midst. It could be we are not watching the right things.