What are we so afraid of?

Are we really so afraid to accept love from one another? Or to put the best of ourselves out there for others to see?

What kind of sick, twisted entitled “armor” do we earn from refusing connection and joy at the door?

The hardest part is that none of this is by choice. It is a calloused reaction formed layer by layer from us being taught that we need to hold our spirits captive, and not to bear witness to each other’s innocence.

Funny how when we speak in poetry to each other’s faces, we’re told “Oh, So-and-So sounds a little unhinged,” but the moment they plaster those same words onto the metaverse and pin them to a social post, all of a sudden those same words are called “art.” But only when the human face is removed and their voiced dulled to less than a whisper, of course.

Why do we feel such a need to hide away our true nature by all public-facing accords? If we’re born of the same grace that drives us to weave the art of song and storytelling into the fabric of our human experience, then why would we shut that precious essence away from our everyday lives?

I think the reason so many people are sad, angry and lonely is because of their conditioned inability or unwillingness to unveil their heart’s frequency. Instead, they hold it closely shielded to their chest, as if to protect it from the rest of the world.

But isn’t love in its basic design meant to hold each other for what they are in their purest form without judgement?

Why try to hide or disguise who we are, then, into some crispy shell of a human?

And so we become maladapted, dilapidated, incapacitated, confused, bemused, elusive beings who pretend it’s better to contrive a false authority over empathy and reason.

What if we ripped away all the bullshit and traded it for real conversations? Would the world really fall to its knees?

I wish I knew the answer.

For the meantime (or maybe for all-time,) I’ll just keep on tippy-tapping these words onto the computer screen.