For Us to Know We Are Free

Between stimulus and response
There is a space
A choice
A reality
That Viktor Frankl lived
And shared
So eloquently

Even amidst
The most egregious of atrocities
Exists this space
No matter the oppression
The suffering
Or unbelievable disarray
It cannot be destroyed

The space
Ineffable
Waits for you to see it
To feel it
To know it's alive

You will be hurt
You will be hit
You will be stomped into the dirt

You will be forgotten
You will be misunderstood
You will be left to wonder
Why

You will be belittled
You will be attacked
You will be made to feel like
You don't exist

But by the breath in your lungs
You do
By the soul traversing the
Veins to your heart
You are
By the mystery who made it alll so
You will forever be

Anger you see is an emotion
Not a dictum to scream
To Maim
To Hurt

Anger, frustration, sorrow, resentment
Cannot be choices
Because they are not the space

Living in it and being it
Are not the same you see
My house I have to hold my joy
But how could it be me?

The space cannot begin to judge
Does not keep a lock and key
It simply offers us all the choice
To think of what could be

If we choose instead to sheath the sword
And forget an eye for eye
Stopping the path that hurt had walked
So love could ask us why

We think we need to say such things
To get away from pain
Tossing them into another's life
So we can feel the gain

The up, the lift when it's not us
That carries the hurt inside
The burden become the other's yoke
Their problems to deny

The space you see is here to help
So we don't have to throw
The hurt we feel when other's speak
And seek to break us so

The space can melt and transform the hurt
If you believe in love
If you believe in other's joy
If you know what's above

So thank you sir for this beeautiful space
That at first I could not see
Thank you for knowing there was a choice
For us to know we're free