{"id":263179,"date":"2024-05-27T13:30:18","date_gmt":"2024-05-27T12:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=263179"},"modified":"2024-05-27T13:30:18","modified_gmt":"2024-05-27T12:30:18","slug":"there-was-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2024\/05\/there-was-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"There Was a Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe there was a time when I didn\u2019t know what a child\u2019s insides look like. That I didn\u2019t know how limp babies\u2019 limbs go when they are dead, when they are missing parts of their body, missing their head, limbs dangling lifeless as parents hold\u2026 <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe there was a time when I didn\u2019t know what a child\u2019s insides look like.<\/p>\n

That I didn\u2019t know how limp babies\u2019 limbs go when they are dead,<\/p>\n

when they are missing parts of their body,<\/p>\n

missing their head,<\/p>\n

limbs dangling lifeless as parents hold them in front of the camera,<\/p>\n

screaming, crying, pleading, desperate.<\/p>\n

There was a time when I didn\u2019t know how it feels to watch a man scream \u201cFree Palestine\u201d while burning alive,<\/p>\n

until there was nothing left to scream with and he lost his voice forever,<\/p>\n

but still by some power remained standing long after his voice was gone.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t used to know just how sadistic people can be,<\/p>\n

how hateful they can be,<\/p>\n

how apathetic they can be toward the suffering of human beings,<\/p>\n

or how heroic others can be in times of great need.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t used to know. Now I do.<\/p>\n

And now I sit here, head heavy like lead, tongue limp like a baby\u2019s corpse,<\/p>\n

hands feeling older than the stars,<\/p>\n

and I don\u2019t know what to do.<\/p>\n

There is nothing I can say to make this okay.<\/p>\n

There is nothing I can say to make any of this make sense.<\/p>\n

This is the civilization we were born into.<\/p>\n

This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal,<\/p>\n

as the airman said before he burned.<\/p>\n

I lift my ancient hands to my sore heart<\/p>\n

and say a prayer to the great Whatever<\/p>\n

in a desperate plea<\/p>\n

for a better world.<\/p>\n

________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Caitlin Johnstone is a rogue journalist, poet, and utopia prepper<\/em>. Contact: <\/em>admin@caitlinjohnstone.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 caitlinjohnstone.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s hard to believe there was a time when I didn\u2019t know what a child\u2019s insides look like. That I didn\u2019t know how limp babies\u2019 limbs go when they are dead, when they are missing parts of their body, missing their head, limbs dangling lifeless as parents hold\u2026 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":263180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[1057,554,1199,87,865,629,88,715,427,868],"class_list":["post-263179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-format","tag-child-protection","tag-children","tag-ethnic-cleansing","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-international-law","tag-israel","tag-massacre","tag-palestine","tag-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263179"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":263181,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263179\/revisions\/263181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}