Lonely Waters

Loneliness despoils apartment complexes, trailer parks, small homes, garages and parks across the inner city. She runs through the brains and bodies of our youth like a tsunami bursting onto the shores of our neighborhoods, affecting the physical and mental well-being of our children. 

Our youth are particularly vulnerable to the damage that she brings. Her waters incite the rise of growing incidence of depression, substance abuse, and suicide, and she washes away from them the securing supports of those who love and care for them normally. 

Her waters swirl children into an empty section of the soul where disconnection reigns, and youth are tossed by her waves, worsening anxieties, mood disorders, and cognitive decline. And she drifts youth far from the shore of learning, blocking their access to the liberating truths that guide them into destiny.

With her constant roar, their attempts to wade fail and fatigue sets in. The light fades and social media is the undertow facilitating the rising pressure that exasperates her and snuffs out the gleam, moving youth deeper and deeper into the darkness of her abyss. 

But just as the darkness of the deep begins to envelope them, another light emerges and penetrates her murkiness. And the light brings breath, and breath brings hope, and this hope provides a powerful gust of energy that begins to draw them out from the deep. 

This light gives voice and begins to sing songs of love that drown out the rushing sound of water. A beautiful composition constructed of memories of human touch. Giving permission to young minds to recount moments of embrace, joyful laughter, and friendship. Remembering moments of innocence, when life was simple, and the woes of this world did not taint the purity of youthful hearts. 

Alas, we remain in this light, and fight the good fight, to defend against the darkness and loneliness. And youth build vessels, vessels of hope, to float down waterfalls into their destinies. They pass on the light to their children, and their children's children, so that generations can surf her ever present waves to find peace, peace everlasting. 

Eric Vasquez