Marred

What do you do
on the day you realize
that your decisions
the air you breathe
the choices you make
are linked to the oppression of others –
that who you are robs others of what
you take for granted, supports a caste system
you knew nothing of
because of your ignorance?

How do you sleep
once you recognize that
others cough, wheeze
succumb to deadly disease
because your comfort, instead of theirs
has been prioritized by
those you do not know
at a time you were not present
but you now are complicit
in spite of your ignorance?

Who are you
when you discover that
large swaths of
populations have
been subjected to laws, yet
pleas for justice were ignored,
leaving their infants dead
at much higher rates than your own–
their life expectancy decades lower than yours–
sentenced by your ignorance?

Where do you turn
when every option collapses,
drives you further in
or wedges you firmly
between calamitous odds
while you keep perpetuating
inhumane structures
you’ve come to despise and yet
support, unintentionally – unmistakably
as a result of your ignorance?

Can ignorance be reversed
undone, redeemed,
can it be divorced
from its accompanying warring factions
of despair or complacency,
can it become a catalyst for
resolve, courage
or does it inevitably inflict
paralyzing guilt?

© Julia Penner-Zook, 2017
Photo Credit: Ivars Krutainis via Unsplash.com