Bodies

The clock struck midnight and I drew the curtain aside to glance out the window. The sight left me feeling flustered; chills running down my spine.

At the heart of our existence, the secret to longevity, and the meaning behind human life is compassion. A pandemic unearthed our deepest, darkest thoughts, the reality behind our masks that we put on to show the world and brought it to the surface for everyone to see. Panicked families in my city left their temporary living quarters and embarked on their way back home without a thought to their own health and safety. Without food or water, they began their journey homeward hundreds of miles away, they walked from noon well into the early hours of the morning. Stopped at the border, roughed up for wanting to return to their families, their parents, their children. Beaten up, their souls broken, their dignity crushed - only a painful reminder of their former selves. Transported in the back of an unseemly truck, huddled together like rotten vegetables in chafing burlap sacks, the horrors of the night made all too clear when the dead were reserved a spot right beside the living.

As I drew the curtain aside, I saw men, women, and children, laying on the street with their worldly belongings strewn about. Waiting for a rickety bus to take them home. A disease looming over our heads compelled us to stay indoors, stay safe and then there were our people who did not have that privilege, that luxury we took for granted. A bus finally arrived after hours of them pottering about in 50 degree weather - sweltering, melting heat. A crowd gathered at the doors for this golden, maybe the only, chance to return to their villages. Some climbed on the roof of the bus while some could only grab the handle and pray they reached home without falling back.

In the world that we live in, inequality, inequity, and disparity soon become the tenets of a democracy. Rather than being for the people, it is against them. The others. A lack of agency, lack of money, lack of power left them helpless out on the streets with no one and nowhere to turn to. Is that all human lives are worth?

A group of people made to sit on the ground with their back to the authority, all they see are shadows - intimidating, suspicious, and moving. A mist suddenly engulfs them, enveloping them in a cough-inducing cloud. The smell, a burning smell of alcohol invading their senses and they realised what has been done. They were being sprayed with disinfectant to protect those who might eventually come in contact with their group. For whose benefit? Not a flinch or a shadow on the unperturbed faces of the perpetrators; they were just following orders. They too lack the agency to make better decisions, or so it seems.

Compassion, or lack thereof. Humans are not equal. We are different, we are diverse. We do not want to be treated equally, we need to be treated with equal respect. Treat us differently, respect our differences. Create space for the individual who is different, feels different, looks different. We need choices and then we need room to say yes or no. We want rights and then we need the authority to exercise them. Be humane, not just human. Stay true to your words. If you have the power that means we gave it to you. Respect that. It is not yours to abuse. It is not yours to exploit. Relent, repent, apologise and maybe our lost souls will forgive you for your wrongs.