I suppose
you meant no harm
by your actions
or with your words.
Or maybe you did
I can’t tell.
I will never know.
In order for me
to believe in
basic human decency
I have to believe
you meant no harm.
Your lack of respect
and blatant display
of disobedience
caused a chain reaction –
a chain of unintended harm.
Doubt.
Loss of confidence.
Distrust.
Anxiety.
Unhappiness.
No harm intended
you were only protecting
your self-interest
and goals.
No harm intended indeed.
But what about
the chain of unintended harm?
© 2017 ck’s days
Advertisements
The idea of harm, both intended and unintended, in your poem got me thinking.
One can push that harm along without realizing it, more unintended harm, so the chain of harm should stop at some point. That point can’t be in the past because the past is over. One has to respond in the present so harm is not propagated, unintentionally, into the future.
I don’t have any clear solution on how to do this and there may not be any simple solution, but your words got me thinking about what needs to be done.
I liken it to cutting vegetables up for a salad. I accidentally cut my finger. The knife slices my finger causing a big gash. I didn’t do it on purpose but it happens. It only takes a split second but I have a mess to clean up. Then I have to wait for the wound go heal.
None of us are perfect and we all do or say things that are like that knife wound. We may not allow it to keep happening but the wound is there nonetheless and we need to heal which takes time. But the mind is different than the finger so it takes that initial wound and it becomes infected with all these unintended turns and loops.
If only the mind and all it entails could be as straightforward as a wounded finger.