what I think pt. II

(Signs of the Times is a work of fiction based on true events. Views expressed are the characters’ own. Viewer discretion is advised.)

Remember that time you stayed up all night? When laughter and stories were enough to stay awake? All it took were your friends.

Maybe they weren’t real. Perhaps they were characters in a book. But the stories you heard, the stories you told, were enough.

At some point, that changed.

Collectively, we’ve never been more alone. We’ve never been more scared. I see it in everyone’s eyes.

I watched people hand out flowers to strangers passing by the other day. When a modest bouquet was presented to a young man, he said “What’s the point? They’re going to die anyway.”

He’s technically wrong — the flowers are already dead. But his comment is indicative of a nation that’s traded community and connection for cool nouveau-nihilism.

But life does matter. When we drink the cocktail of nihilism it creates an amnesiac response to personal and civil responsibility. In turn, those looking to consolidate power do so more easily.

I see increasingly punitive attitudes towards others. The devaluing of lives based on beliefs. But it’s probably always been this way. I just see it more now.

Virtuous violence is growing. Justifications are broader. Rage is in the air.

Now what?

Do I go and read a book? Study the psychology of compassion and posit theories from my desk? Does any word I write mean anything, a single drop of water dissolving into the world wide web of information?

I should keep handing out flowers.