Haiku 2023–210

news, like an arrow

shot from distant lands, found a

hole and pricked my heart

— —

I usually pass the time on my morning commutes by talking on the phone with my wife, but circumstances prevented us from doing so one day this past week. Instead, I listened to Newsday from the BBC which ran a story on “The Forgotten War” in Yemen between the government and the Houthi rebels (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-66258171). Generally, a conflict between two sects of the same religious beliefs half a world away would not interest me. This story, however, concentrated on the effects on the civilian population. The story related how Yemenis who aren’t involved with the conflict routinely deal with shelling, snipers, and landmines as part of their everyday existence. It went on to interview children who had been wounded or lost limbs, circumstances they will need to deal with for the rest of their life, because of something they absolutely cannot control. The moment of the story that prompted this haiku was the following statement by a three year-old boy.

“Buy me a gun. I will load a bullet in my gun and fire at those who took my leg.”

For years, I’ve built an emotional armor around myself. This barrier keeping emotions at bay helped me get through years and years of service in public safety. Now that I’m removed from dealing directly with the worst parts of the human condition on a regular basis — at least the American version of this — I find some of the armor falling away allowing emotions and feelings to come to the fore in ways they haven’t before. This statement from a three year-old boy hit me in a way like no other… and to be honest, it should to all of us.

As an aside, I feel like a bit of an opportunist writing about this tragedy — it’s super easy to sit here in my chair and write about this and move on. I want to counteract that in two small ways. First, I have donated one hour of pay to a charity directly dealing with the conflict in Yemen. Second, I will be meditating on peace and try my best to keep from radiating hate into the world. These are small steps, but every little bit counts.