The Sheltering D

I grew up in a sheltered world, so I thought that if I could just reach beyond the glass of the hothouse I could escape the heat. Life isn't that simple. The broader world has proved itself to be just as intent on deciding who is "us" and who is "not us." But we are all a part of each other. We are all human. I wrote a poem when I was still hopeful that I'd put the dehumanizing life of choosing who to respect and include and who to hate and reject behind me. In it I said that we had "lived" in Auschwitz, but the more I know the world the more I see that I must remove the illusion that the "d" perpetuates. We live in Auschwitz. We live in a world where we permit ourselves to choose who lives and who dies. We live in a world that measures people's merit by standards that can never come close to the truly priceless nature of a human soul.
I believe my faith when it promises me that I will be transformed and that I will leave that wickedness behind me in my own behavior, but the longer I live, the more I see that there is no culture or philosophy or creed that is strong enough to create a world without "not us." The only thing strong enough to counter that is to touch the face of God. Only God knows the truth of our Limbo.