The End ... ?

Everything Changes

by

Matthew T. Lipson

1.6 The End ... ?

Standing at the dining room window looking out at the parking lot being drenched in rain.  All I wanted to do was leave.  Being there in the now all but empty condo was a harsh reminder of the expectations of married life.  My two children had been born there.  Family life, seeing my kids daily, I now stood on the outside of that reality.  It was over.  I didn't want to walk out the door.  I needed to.  For the first time I truly knew.  As I stood there, taking in the detail of the wet surface of the street, the light of the single lamp, and the reflections of what was behind me in the window.  She was a ghost, still my wife.  When she reached out to me -- to comfort me or her, I don't know.  Instinctively I stepped out of reach.  I was done.

Collateral Damage

Everything Changes

by

Matthew T. Lipson

1.5 Collateral Damage

We talk of collateral damage as if it is expected, acceptable.  It is not.  In this case those caught in the ripples of the war did not ask to be here.  They were invited as a hope for that better and brighter future we promise them on a daily basis.  But what do we do?  We lose sight of them when it is most important, when we are at our most selfish.  They see what we do.  They absorb what we do.  When we are at our worst they bear witness to our childishness.  If we, as adults and caretakers of the future, do not do anything to address and take responsibility for our momentary lapses in reason, we create indelible scars in those who did not ask to be here in the first place.  We must stand for them.  We must stand with them.  They ask for our help, for our guidance.  More often than not they are disappointed in our lack of response.  We ignore them, because they are children.  They are our children.  They are the future we hope for, which, more often than not, we compromise with excuses.