The man reads the headlines online every
day and knows that things might never again
be okay. He thinks of himself as a mature,

balanced adult but sometimes his shock
goes to shrieks at the outrageous, racist
rants and the rollover, play-dead response

from unresponsive legislators when minor-
ities are actually dead on arrival, and he
goes into a primal scream and misdirected

verbal aggression and then he calms down,
feels guilty but still wonders why his neigh-
bors in his quiet neighborhood don’t stand

out in front of their homes and scream bloody
murder on occasion at what is happening.
But they don’t. The timid, mostly members

of the silent generation have decided that
he’s the identified family problem for dis-
turbing the peace. He just doesn’t fit in and

then he considers a wise friend’s question,
“Why have we taken so few steps from the
face of the cave?” He looks at his front door.