A thousand compassionate prayers
go spiraling into the heavens,
disparate voices with one shared thought:
worry for the welfare of a stranger.
It is a common effort, arising spontaneously
without communication, without planning,
minds and hearts blazing forth pure light–
a communion of hope and unconditional love.
How can people who show such caring
turn and wound each other so casually,
causing harm greater than that they sought to heal?
We are better than this–
within us all, even if just a wisp,
the roots exist of a magnificent nobility.
Why does it take a tragedy
to bring out the best in humanity?