GREY

I was brought up in the Catholic religion…

Catholics…we knew what was wrong and what was right

with the Bible as our guide…everything was black and white.

Then I grew up and learned nothing is as black and white as all religions say…

I learned there are more than two sides to every story…and so many things are grey.

In the Catholic Church with it’s ten commandments…celebrating its communal feast

Grey is looking the other way when children were molested by a priest.

Grey are people in the midst of a pandemic…who refuse to do what experts ask…

Who will not wash their hands, stay 6 feet apart or even wear a mask.

In a country where our leaders assure us our children are important

and protecting them is how they rule…

Grey is doing nothing when a man with an automatic rifle kills them…in their school.

In a country where some people would like to see weapons that can kill so many so fast…

banned this very day.

Grey are the people who legally and rightfully own guns thinking we want to take all their guns away.

Abortion…a delicate subject…everyone has an opinion…a belief…a voice

Grey is on a decision so heart wrenching…allowing the woman to make the final choice.

In a country built by and for immigrants…

where immigration is the cornerstone of what we’re all about…

Grey are the families of all those immigrants we let in…building a wall to keep the new ones out.

Grey is looking out on the artistry of nature and thinking…this does not compute….

And wondering why the beauty of this planet we love…we easily pollute.

Grey is some of us living in a comfortable home filled with fruit and vegetables and meat

while other people have no place to live and have no food to eat.

Grey is knowing you are gay or transgender…knowing it you’re whole life long

and being told you need to be fixed…that the way you feel is wrong.

Grey is how some people are treated differently because their religion has a different spin…

Grey is how some people are judged by the color of their skin.

In a world where we want peace…where we hate every aspect, every element of war

Grey is knowing there are things in life that are still worth fighting for. 

Knowing nothing is ever as easy as it seems…never as simple as black and white

How do we go about changing…how do we make things right?

I imagine the first step is one that would cause both sides a modicum of dismay

We find some way to combine our world of black and white…

and learn to live together in grey.