I Changed

I used to not care about suffering strangers. Now I really do.

I remember a time not so long ago
When I wasn’t exactly naïve or unaware.
I was simply immune to the problems of the world
I knew that they existed, but I just didn’t care.

I stood in the eye of a hurricane
While all around me the world was hell.
It did not bother me when Bush was elected.
It did not sadden me when the Twin Towers fell.

I used to be completely unmoved
By distant tragedies.
I was not touched or shaken
By true tales of killing and disease.

But rather abruptly, indifference and incompassion
Turned to a whole lot of sadness and outrage.
I don’t exactly know what happened
Perhaps it was a coming of age.

I deeply cared if some stranger in Iraq
Was injured or killed in combat.
My heart would ache for that person and his/her loved ones
I didn’t used to be like that.

To have one’s heart turn from stone to sponge
So suddenly, seems in retrospect quite strange.
Don’t ask me why, even I don’t understand
All I know is, I changed.