Recited this poem at the Poetry event organized by You, Me and Poetry. The theme for the day was Breaking News.
Every morning, before the sun has fully stretched across the sky,
before hope has found its way into another day, our screens flash...
BREAKING NEWS.
But is it really breaking news?
Or is it simply another heart-breaking story
waiting to remind us how cruel the world can be?
Every day, we wake up to stories of rape, violence,
murder, wars, accidents, betrayal and hatred.
Stories
so gruesome that they make our skin crawl and our hearts grow heavy.
We shake our heads and whisper, “What is this world
coming to?” Yet tomorrow, we return...
waiting for another headline.
Sometimes I wonder... Have we become so
used to sorrow that someone else's suffering has become our daily routine?
A cousin once said something that has never left me:
“Perhaps we watch such news because somewhere
within us there is relief... Thank God it wasn't us.”
His words disturbed
me.
Are we really so desperate to know every detail,
watch every video, replay every tragedy, while someone's life lies shattered
beyond repair?
When did curiosity become greater than compassion?
Why is heart-breaking news always worthy
of bold letters and endless debates, while heart-warming news is quietly tucked
away in the corner of a newspaper?
Why don't such stories
become Breaking News?
Perhaps because goodness doesn't shout. It simply
happens... one kind word, one helping hand, one forgiving heart at a time.
I dream of a morning
when our television screens announce:
“Breaking News... Humanity Wins Again.”
“Breaking News... Kindness Travels
Faster Than Hatred.”
Wouldn't that be worth watching?
I know the world cannot be
free of sorrow. But surely, there is room for a little more hope, a little more
kindness, a little more peace, and a lot more heart-warming news than
heart-breaking news.
Perhaps the next Breaking News shouldn't
tell us how another life was lost.
Perhaps it should remind us how humanity was
found.
