We were never supposed to be this aware.
On a tuesday, in august 2002, millions of people bought a coffee and a cookie or a muffin to brighten their day.
On that day, a suitcase full of money was exchanged for a missle, for a plane, for a weapon.
Years later, a hospital was bombed using the same weapon.
How do we deal with that?
You work for 40+ years, 40+ hours a week, all to buy a shampoo, a treat, furniture. And in the end, a picture of a decapitated baby is found on the internet, a father unable to even kiss his baby’s forehead goodbye.
Nowadays, you wake up, you work, you eat, and you know. You know that this is your normal. You know that the normal for other people has become looking for a sip of water. Not clean water, that hope was lost, just water.
You go home, you eat again, and you know. You eat every grain of rice, because you know you are so fortunate. You eat everything on your plate, because you know that others haven’t had a real meal in months.
You sit on the couch, a tv in the background because we can’t handle the silence anymore. You scroll on social media. Funny meme, a doctor’s advice, exercise video, a mother screaming because she saw that her child has been turned to pieces, a funny meme, an ad.
You get up, you tidy up the apartment, you clean something that should have been cleaned a week ago, you stand and you break down.
A mother's scream echoing in your head.
ou go to sleep to the sound of that scream, you eyes exhausted from their exercise, but still, they do not close dry.
You wake up, and repeat. This time you go to sleep with the sound of a little girl, saying how she recognized her mother’s body through her hair.
You wake up, and repeat. This time it’s a video of little boy, lying on the floor, being comforted by his neighbour. His leg is missing, his family is gone.
You wake up, and repeat. This time it’s a doctor, taking a moment to himself, after operating on a little kid with no anesthesia, the child dead from the pain.
You wake up and repeat. The video today was of a girl that survived a bomb attack months ago, now she was nothing but bones, having not survived another.
You wake up, and it’s the weekend. You go out, you spend time with your family, you forget. In the newsletter, they mentioned that they were testing their fighter jets today. You can hear their roar. You break down, because you heard it for a moment and you remembered a little boy saying how he can’t sleep because this sound is constant. You go to sleep.
You wake up, but others don’t.