Our Child, America

I stepped up to the cashier

put my candy on the counter

looked up

to meet his unsure but friendly smile

You remember me?

You took me to Wendy’s for ice-cream …and we talked?

he inquired childlike.

Yes of course, I remember.

You were working with a lady on getting government benefits

medicare, medicaid and housing

how did it work out?

I make too much money, he says

they say I make too much money!

his eyes disbelieving

his voice appealing

I make $1500 a month, and

I don’t understand, because

I’m barely above the poverty line,

he volunteers innocently.

Adam’s a young white man

barely made it through high school

has no parental guidance or support

seemingly normal and street-smart

unwise, immature, insecure.

A boy-like man functional in a transactional world

only by his wits and ability to hide

vulnerabilties

disabilites

within a veneer of grooming and behavior

of sealed lips and servitude

which he puts on before work, each day

so he can namelessly serve the function the world asks of him

without entering into our consciousness, our consideration and our days.

Is this child, who we mistake for a man,

to navigate governmental agencies and entitlements?

find subsidized housing and heating oil?

look for healthcare and insurance?

How?

He doesn’t have all the tools he needs

not within himself, nor without

he retains no advocate, no care-giver

no sympathy, no empathy

He is a child of this country nevetheless

apparently one we might have failed…

So my questions come to You America

Who should be looking out for Adam?

Should anyone be looking out for Adam?

Is it anyone’s job to help him?

Should the state look out for Adam’s welfare?

Should Darwinism consume this our child?

Is incidental human sympathy his only chance?

Is he the acceptable collateral damage of our capitalism?

What if I re-ask You America these questions, on

Sunday morning at the church

Friday afternoon in the mosque

Saturday in the Synagogue

will the answers be different, America?

Are all your children equal, America?

the slow and the genius?

the enabled and the disabled?

the entitled and the ignored?

the poor and the wealthy?

the one with the bright future, and

the one with no future?

the Adam and the Eve?