Everyone wants to have a happy ending for their life. Everyone wants to live their days out in peace and love, in Eden. In Utopia.
I live in Canada. Much like the United States, Canada is seen to be a land of freedom and peace. For those who come from the corners of the world, burned and scarred by the wars, famine, disasters, suffering and misery, Canada is a utopia. It is a peaceful place for refugees to raise their families safely. Without fear of them going through what they went through. A place for them to make a life for themselves, to be successful.
Even in Canada, there are tears. Even in this Utopia in the North, strong and free, rain still falls. People still die. Hearts are still broken. Love is still hard to find.
Why do we put up with this? We have it in our power to make the world a better place. So many countries look to Canada to lead the rest of the world in the struggle to bring world peace. Organizations, citizens, refugees, and the entire world looks to us for an example. They are angry, disappointed that Canada is doing nothing. Why? Are we not one of the safest countries? Do we not have enough food to feed all the hungry in Africa? Do we not have shelter and safety from the storms that reach our shores?
This utopia, this Canada we live in, is broken. We try to portray this image, this aura of safety. But we are as hurting as the rest of you. We might not have child soldiers, but our children are just as scarred by divorce, by inter-marital fighting. We still have hungry, sick, dying, drunks, homeless, drug addicts. We are no better than the rest of the world. We have more churches than the Vatican has scandal rumours. Yet the faith in any god, in anything, is nigh none-existent. We don't believe in Jesus, Buddha, Yahweh, the Hindu pantheon, the Aesir, the Olympians, the Titans, not even money, power, family, love.
Canada may have all the material gain that the world wishes for, but our souls, minds and hearts are as empty as so many of the stomachs of children in India, China, Indonesia, Africa, Asia. We are as sickened by the rot as the people of New Orleans were by the floods, as were the people of Haiti.
Like hollow logs, we appear solid, and as long as you don't push to hard, that illusion will hold. The moment you lean on it, it splinters and disintegrates beneath your fingers. Our sorrow, our depression, our weakness is no less then your own. Like so many, we have closed up our hearts, we have set boundaries. And now we are drowning behind the walls of our hearts. We are killing ourselves in the most painful manner possible.
Why? Because we have lost hope. We are not told what the ones we love think of us. A girl will not tell a guy she loves him. Nor will a guy say to a girl that he wants to spend his life with her. He will not say that when he is with her, he feels like a child again. He feels that nothing will harm either of you. If something tries, he has faith that you will weather the storm. He will not tell her how special he feels that she notices him. Guys are supposed to be heartless, tough, logical and unwise beings. We aren't supposed to have feelings, we aren't supposed to feel like children. We aren't supposed to have faith in anything other than our physical strength. We are not supposed to be human.
Girls are supposed to be sexually active. To sleep with many guys, and cause many heartbreaks. They must be thin, and expensively dressed. They must act masculine and feminine at the same time in order to make women equal to men.
Why do we torture ourselves so? Why must tears fall so plentily that the rivers swell and flood our lives, and wash away the flimsy foundations we had?
"Why does it rain, rain, rain down on Utopia?" (Within Temptation, 'Utopia') Why does it hurt so?
I live in Canada. Much like the United States, Canada is seen to be a land of freedom and peace. For those who come from the corners of the world, burned and scarred by the wars, famine, disasters, suffering and misery, Canada is a utopia. It is a peaceful place for refugees to raise their families safely. Without fear of them going through what they went through. A place for them to make a life for themselves, to be successful.
Even in Canada, there are tears. Even in this Utopia in the North, strong and free, rain still falls. People still die. Hearts are still broken. Love is still hard to find.
Why do we put up with this? We have it in our power to make the world a better place. So many countries look to Canada to lead the rest of the world in the struggle to bring world peace. Organizations, citizens, refugees, and the entire world looks to us for an example. They are angry, disappointed that Canada is doing nothing. Why? Are we not one of the safest countries? Do we not have enough food to feed all the hungry in Africa? Do we not have shelter and safety from the storms that reach our shores?
This utopia, this Canada we live in, is broken. We try to portray this image, this aura of safety. But we are as hurting as the rest of you. We might not have child soldiers, but our children are just as scarred by divorce, by inter-marital fighting. We still have hungry, sick, dying, drunks, homeless, drug addicts. We are no better than the rest of the world. We have more churches than the Vatican has scandal rumours. Yet the faith in any god, in anything, is nigh none-existent. We don't believe in Jesus, Buddha, Yahweh, the Hindu pantheon, the Aesir, the Olympians, the Titans, not even money, power, family, love.
Canada may have all the material gain that the world wishes for, but our souls, minds and hearts are as empty as so many of the stomachs of children in India, China, Indonesia, Africa, Asia. We are as sickened by the rot as the people of New Orleans were by the floods, as were the people of Haiti.
Like hollow logs, we appear solid, and as long as you don't push to hard, that illusion will hold. The moment you lean on it, it splinters and disintegrates beneath your fingers. Our sorrow, our depression, our weakness is no less then your own. Like so many, we have closed up our hearts, we have set boundaries. And now we are drowning behind the walls of our hearts. We are killing ourselves in the most painful manner possible.
Why? Because we have lost hope. We are not told what the ones we love think of us. A girl will not tell a guy she loves him. Nor will a guy say to a girl that he wants to spend his life with her. He will not say that when he is with her, he feels like a child again. He feels that nothing will harm either of you. If something tries, he has faith that you will weather the storm. He will not tell her how special he feels that she notices him. Guys are supposed to be heartless, tough, logical and unwise beings. We aren't supposed to have feelings, we aren't supposed to feel like children. We aren't supposed to have faith in anything other than our physical strength. We are not supposed to be human.
Girls are supposed to be sexually active. To sleep with many guys, and cause many heartbreaks. They must be thin, and expensively dressed. They must act masculine and feminine at the same time in order to make women equal to men.
Why do we torture ourselves so? Why must tears fall so plentily that the rivers swell and flood our lives, and wash away the flimsy foundations we had?
"Why does it rain, rain, rain down on Utopia?" (Within Temptation, 'Utopia') Why does it hurt so?
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