AN ILLUSTRATION THROUGH A POEM BY JAMES PATRICK KINNEY ON WHY WE NEED SALT IN OUR LIVES

[Shabakie Fernandes]

THE COLD WITHIN
 By James Patrick Kinney
 
Six humans trapped by happenstance
 In dark and bitter cold
 Each one possessed a stick of wood,
 Or so the story's told.
 
Their dying fire in need of logs,
 The first woman held hers back.
 For on the faces around the fire,
 She noticed one was black.
 
The next man looking cross the way,
 Saw one not of his church,
 And couldn't bring himself to give
 The fire his stick of birch.
 
The third one sat in tattered clothes,
 He gave his coat a hitch.
 Why should his log be put to use,
 To warm the idle rich?
 
The rich man just sat back and thought
 Of the wealth he had in store.
 And how to keep what he had earned
 From the lazy, shiftless poor.
 
The black man's face bespoke revenge
 As the fire passed from sight,
 For all he saw in his stick of wood
 Was a chance to spite the white.
 
The last man of this forlorn group
 Did naught except for gain
 Giving only to those who gave
 Was how he played the game.
 
The logs held tight in death's still hands
 Was proof of human sin.
 They didn't die from the cold without,
 They died from ---THE COLD WITHIN.

 
This poem for me touches and delves greatly into the depths of why we need to see persons as humans and not as another by stereotypes of anykind regardless of creed , race or colour.  When we are convinced that those that are different from us can never understand us, we divide ourselves, and I think, foolishly. To claim that 'outsiders' can never understand us is a very lonely and destructive path to take.Their energies for their hopes and concerns were wrongly placed. As such they died from the weather inside.
 
Just a random thought on how this poem relates to Community Life Competence.xoxox my fellow SALTY people!!!

[Naomi Singh]

Shabakie,

I am copying this poem to paste on my wall at work. It will serve as a good reminder for me and all that read it the reason why we need to show HUMANITY.

Thank you for sharing it.

[Jennifer Lentfer]

Thanks for sharing - poetry, I think, plays a vital role in helping to stop, reflect, and express themselves, which is so important in this work. It's why I started a weekly "Poetry Pause" feature on my blog, how-matters.org. Check it out at: http://www.how-matters.org/category/poetry-pause/

[Tricia Francis]

This is so beautiful Shabakie Fernandes, Thank You for sharing, and i agree with you, well all need to see each other as Humans.     <3 <3 :-)

 

[Abhinav Singh]

Well said..and well potrayed :)