Away

It's the land of wishful thinking, a place of hopelessly hapless dreams.  It's the land of crossed fingers and bated breath, of deferred payment and dismissed responsibility.  And it doesn't exist.

We have fooled and we have been fooled.  We have deluded ourselves into believing that there is a mystical, magical place where payment is never due and everything works out fine. Not a one of us has ever been there and no one has ever returned to offer a description, yet through the very clever, desperate, and sometimes despotic workings of our collective imagination we have created a convenient fantasy destination  We have bought the lie.

There is no Away.

There is no Away where we can banish those with whom we disagree, never to see them again.

There is no Away where we can send our neatly-wrapped problems, where they will be solved, rewrapped and returned, no postage due.

There is no Away where we can ship our broken lives for repair, waiting by the door for their neatly-packaged delivery.

There is no Away where we can send our refuse--the detritis of our overconsumption--where its effects will not be known.

I can't banish my enemies to a place called Away, and neither can you--because there is no Away.

I can't wish my problems Away, and neither can you--because there is no Away.

I can't throw my garbage Away, and neither can you--because there is no Away.

There is only Here.

We can continue the lie, that's true, and sooner or later the rising tide of reality will drown us all.  Or we can face the truth--and hope it's not too late.