HUDDLING: Some food for thought

by Ted Cox

Isn't it a shame,
that we "build (our) cultures,
by huddling together,
nervously loquacious,
at the edge of an abyss" ?

Or is it?
What would we be without this fear?
Would we still "huddle together?"
Or would we become isolated felines?

I used to help people die,
those with incurable diseases,
or those with unbearable pain.
It seemed to me that many,
as they gave up on life and welcomed death,
withdrew from life and their connections with others.
When they lost the fear of dying,
they no longer needed the others.

Perhaps this loss of the fear of death,
is even the hallmark of the sociopath.
Having lost this fear they are independent of society's control,
which is largely based on it's ability to bestow some form of immortality.
Thus, they can kill or exploit others and even themselves,
without fear of losing anything.

And so I celebrate the fear-caused huddling,
for within it we can find love and passion,
music and dance, and all the other juicy parts of life;
as we huddle together,
nervously loquacious at the edge of an abyss.

Note: The quote in the first paragraph is from “Permanence and Change” by Kenneth Burke (last page of text) (1984:272). The abyss he refers to represents (I believe) more than death. There is for example, pain, chaos, deception, personal invisibility, and loss of meaning, to name just a few. I have exercised my poetic license to focus only on death for this “trial balloon.”