The Unclad Soul

How did we lose the fundamental joy of the human spirit? How did we come to be so distrusting of one another? How did we learn to give in to such appalling responses to our differences? There is a beautiful stanza in one of poet laureate Billy Collins’ poems that says: “It seems only yesterday I used to believe there was nothing under my skin but light. If you cut me I could shine.” Today, though, there is this: Hateful, spiteful, ruinous politics. Superficial, sanctimonious, greedy, judgmental religion. U.S. drones that roam the world killing terrorists, yes, but far too many of the innocent. Spying on everyone by our fear soaked, paranoid government. Indifference to poverty, to domestic violence, to abandoned children, to the needs of the old. Making a mockery of our educational system by defunding its deepest budgetary needs. Cops—impulsively mean, brutal and lawless, out of control. Old time bigotry dressed up in patriotic garb. Health care for all ...

There is a lurid kind of selfishness among us today. It struts itself in religious language and patriotic mumblings. It looks out on the world and our nation and sees only forces out to take away one’s security, one’s freedom, one’s money. This selfishness never sees the needs of people, the scarring hurts, the struggle to be human, the longing to have self respect and to be loved. It knows no empathy, only resentment bathed in bitterness. It convinces us that people on the fringes of survival are losers, void of ambition and initiative, wasters of resources we want for ourselves. This selfishness scorns the provisions of government agencies that exist to assist single moms stuck in the debris of betrayal and abandonment. It dismisses the limits of the disabled who are seen by this selfishness as cripples useless to us and to our economy, beggars looking for a handout. It disregards the elderly in their tiny homes with leaky roofs and thin walls that can’t hold back the cold o...