Just another day

I get up and do the morning-things. I brush my teeth. I take a shower. I have a morning coffee. Then I go out and enjoy the sunshine. It’s one of the first warm days this year. I take a walk, thinking about the upcoming week and the work I want to get done.

It’s just another day.

Someone, quite like me, right now, gets up in Bengasi. She does the morning-things. Brushes her teeth. Takes a shower. Has a morning coffee. Then goes out on the streets to fight for the freedom of her people, thinking about the injustice and oppression and how life should go on.

It’s just another day.

Someone, quite like her, right now, gets up in Fukushima. He does the morning-things. Brushes his teeth. Takes a shower. Has a morning coffee. Then sits down with the little of what’s left of his personal belongings, on top of the pile of debris that used to be his home, thinking about the destruction and agony and where he will sleep tomorrow.

Someone, quite like him, right now, gets up in Itamar. He does the morning-things. Brushes his teeth. Takes a shower. Has a morning coffee. Then goes to attend the funeral of his former neighbors, thinking about who might be the next victim to the generations-old hate and how this could ever be stopped.

Someone, quite like him, right now, gets up in India. She does the morning-things. Brushes her teeth. Takes a shower. Has a morning coffee. Then goes out to watch the launch of the nuclear surface-to-surface missile, thinking about whom they would probably use them against and how this would possibly start a nuclear war.

Someone, quite like her, right now, gets up in Tiebissou. He does the morning-things. Brushes his teeth. Takes a shower. Has a morning coffee. Then goes out to clean up the mess from last night’s artillery-assault, thinking about when his house would be hit and how many people would have to die before this madness would stop.

It’s just another day.

Every once in a while, a big catastrophe rushes through the news networks. Morning papers, News shows, the internet – everything gets flooded with the horror that is the current international crisis. And we sit there, watching it, reading it, thinking about how horrible these things are. How we couldn’t even imagine to be in a situation those people are forced to live through. Then, we close the newspaper, turn off the TV and shut down the computer, go out for a walk and think about the upcoming week and the work we want to get done.

After all, it’s just another day.