Humanity's Evil

2:11 pm, waiting.

I sit in math counting the ticks and tocks of that white school clock.
Equations fill my brain to the brink, I can barely even think -
But I think that if people were more like these numbers,
Then there would be far less harm done.
We could wrap ourselves within the confines of these
Absolute value signs
Turning our negative parts into positive ones
But surely, that can’t be done
Not by God, nor by Darwin.
We can’t strip ourselves of the very things that make us human –
The parts of us that fall on the negative side of this
Number line.
Like our vices and mistakes, our imperfections, our rage.
Unlike numbers our negative values are things we just can’t lose,
But only learn to control, because,
People are not linear and should never be seen as so.

Still, these brick walls home weapons often held in bras or in pockets.
Painted fingers dance along keyboards to the rhythm of corruption
And words float out into space and once they land, seek destruction.
This obsession with connection between friends and between rivals
Pushes 16 year olds of all colours and sizes into social survival.
And my heart aches every time I pass a new face wearing a pain-tainted smile.

There’s an endless rally going on between supposed saints and supposed sinners
And I wish they could if see that a game scored with hate has no winners.
That an eye for an eye always leaves the world blind.

I get sick at the sight of syllables and consonants
Being hijacked and warped into invisible bullets.
But it’s not just here, where we dress alike, in disguise,
Decorated faces the only option to cover colourful lies,
The numbers of teen suicides these past few months is on rise
And ironically, we wore purple to honor the ending of young lives.
Even though they were victims of the same social phenomenon,
Their souls wounded each time a peer chose destruction.
And now their bodies have caught up to the death of their insides.

So why do we do it
Cut and rip away at our peers day by day?
Pushing them lower to bring ourselves up -
To what extent will we go to reach for the top?
“PLEASE STOP!” words I wish I could scream
I pinch flesh till it bleeds wishing this were only dream.

Because I’ve learned that evil isn’t just for the history books.
Not just for the Klan lynching innocent people
Or Hitler exterminating masses based on their looks.
That evil is still evil whether or not it gets published, because,
Humans still feel pain without a story to acknowledge it.

They say the root of all evil is the money in our pockets
But I say that’s just another cover up.
Our invention of money is a distraction from the darkness that lies within all of us.
Evil manifests itself every day behind good intentions and shining eyes.
Sure we can’t help but to think badly things sometimes,
But how we chose to manage those thoughts is what will govern our lives.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not perfect, that’s for sure.
And though I’d like them to be, my thoughts are not always pure.
Just this morning, in a rush, I ran for the bus
And on the way, cut a little grade seven boy off.
But I’m human!
You’re human!
And in the end, it’s alright.
I try to make up for my occasional lack of love,
With my lack of picking fights.

So I’ll throw the first stone and hope that ripples will follow.
Take more time in my actions when dealing with others,
Because the best place to start is within your own self.
Accept that evil exists – but know that it’s your compassion that counts.

2:15 pm, the bell has gone

So I pack up my books and my numbers one by one.
And as I pass every soul on the way to my next class,
I pray that someday, they too, will find liberation, at last.