Tonight.

Like any other nights in college,
I lie on my bed,
Trying to close my eyes at 2 in the morning.

The sound of silence and the warmth of the breeze
keeping me company as I doze off to my dreams.
But tonight is not like any other nights.
Tonight is different.

Amidst the darkness of the room,
I got up from the bed.
I had to write this all down,
as tonight is not like any other nights.

Although just like any other nights
I find it hard to close my eyes.
Tonight, I cannot close my eyes
not because I took a nap in the evening.
Instead, I have read what has been happening.
Be it across the streets or across the ocean.
The next street or the next time zone.

Tonight, I cannot close my eyes
not because I am caffeine-induced.
I don’t even like coffee in the first place.
But this power of helplessness
Powerless
Seeing injustices and all you can do is sigh.

So many things that I don’t even know where to begin.
If I were to begin with the trampling of civil liberties,
where can I put the trampling of human beings?
Irony.
Hypocrisy.
Rampant in our lives.
Instead of buying books, we are buying bombs.
Instead of maintaining peace, we are propagating fear.
Instead of trust, we prefer distrust.
Oath takers lie.
Religious leaders sin.
Innocents are killed.
Civilians are under surveillance.
People are coerced.
Thinkers are silenced.
News are muted.
Lands are grabbed.
Even our food is a lie now.
Water is a privilege, racism is a right.
Is there anything genuinely real nowadays?

Do what we say, not what we do.
Money talks, connections help.

Hashtag this. Hashtag that.
Pray for Peshawar. Gaza. Detroit. Cuba. North Korea. Ukraine. Africa. Hong Kong.

Now I know why people choose to be fools
because life seems easier.
The more you know,
the more you feel like everything is over.
Yet this is nothing new.

At 2:45 in the morning,
this is not a sign of defeat.
Just a sign of misplaced optimism.
Because tonight,
is not like other nights.