Rubble

I was a few blocks down
from where it happened,
where Floyd choked out
his last dying breath.

It looked like a war zone.
Buildings reduced to rubble,
metal twisted like tree roots,
cinder blocks and bricks
now unusable rubble.
Water mains pouring into ditches,
electric cables lying in the pooling puddles.

This is the aftermath.
This is the rubble.

Where do we go from here?

What do we do?

How do we
rebuild?

Ask anyone
and they may say, I don’t know
and they may have all the answers,
if only people would listen to them
then everything would be just fine.

So here’s my answer.
And if only people will listen to me,
then certainly everything will be just fine.

Listen to your neighbor.
Maybe you have the best idea
for rebuilding this house from rubble.
But your neighbor thinks that their idea
is the best; can they not see that you’re smarter,
more qualified?

Listen to your neighbor.
Everyone brings different perspectives,
different experiences, and
different expertise.
And two minds are always
smarter than one.

Always.

Listen to your neighbor.
No, don’t set that crossbeam there, you idiot!
No, bricks are too porous, we should use cinder blocks.
No, it should be oak, not pine.

Listen to your neighbor.
The house won’t build itself.
So listen and learn.
Seek to understand,
and seek to compromise.

When the house is finished,
will it stand?
Obviously it won’t. It would have
if they just listened to me and my expertise.

Listen to your neighbor.
The house looks messy.
The wood is stained multicolored,
the bricks and cinder blocks overlapping,
the roof leaning a bit.
The house shakes when the wind blows,
and sometimes it leaks in the rain.
Someone didn’t put the flue in correctly
and the first big rain floods the fireplace and the living room.
But it’s a house,
and you can live in it.

How did you get here?

How did you build it?

How did you
rebuild?