Michael Plante

When you see a child sitting outside their house
a tear in their eye and smudge dirt on their cheeks;
a woman screams from within and the sound of breaking furniture;
you understand that it’s not any of your business. So you move on.
Your steps become quiet and you search for something to occupy your mind. Nature provides a bird that sits on a tree chirping; and you feel better.

Later, you watch a movie with your partner about a crack cocaine addict; the reality is the scene from the movie is happening right outside your door. You get the feeling like you’re over-paying for such a unit. It’s those fucking crack addicts that are bringing the moral value of the neighborhood down. So now it’s your business. You beat up a crack cocaine addict with a bat to show the rest of them what will happen if they don’t move on to another neighborhood. You sleep next to your partner believing you’ve made a difference. And you have; just not the way you thing you have.

One day a bird shits on you. You become angry within. All day you walk around with shit on your shoulder swearing under your breath. You come home and tell your wife and she starts to laugh at you. You become irate and smack her across the mouth to teach her a lesson. You son runs up to protect his mother and you smack him across the cheek. He runs outside crying. You scream at your wife because she made you do this, so you break the vase full of flowers across her head and tell her to clean up the mess. You make yourself a drink and sit in front of the television feeling like a man as she kneels on the floor cleaning up the mess.
Later that night, after you forced your will on her she picks up an axe and cracks your skull open as you laid sleeping.

Your wife gets convicted and serves 20 years as your son gets raped in a foster home. Later he becomes addicted to crack cocaine and is killed by some irate homeowner who believes his neighborhood has become morally bankrupted. You’re a quadriplegic with the mentality of a grapefruit spending the rest of your days in a nursing home all because you refused to do what was required of you. Show a little love and decency.

Image: Ingmar Bergman Quote by Libquotes.com