Snapshot

S.W.Thompson · Snapshot

​a snapshot of the world
taken right now
would defy conventional wisdom
on how to label the photo.
there is no way
that a copywriter
could describe the photo
in 10,000 words
let alone 1,000.
billions of portraits
individuals with different ambitions
political motivations or manipulations
philanthropic acts and contributions
all in such conflict
that the image would be at odds.
the negative and positive
washing one another out.
the contrast unable to cope
with the uncertainty
written on everyone’s faces.
 
20 years from now
100 years from now
someone would pull the snapshot
from an old shoebox
under their parents,
or their grandparents, bed
try to make sense
of the conflict and chaos
looking for something familiar
to the world in their time
looking to spot the differences
and point out how much better
things are now.
“look at that old phone.”
“how primitive!”
“check out those masks.”
“how ineffective!”
“ew… look at that horrible racism.”
“gross, I thought that was gone by then.”
“nope, 2020 was crazy.”
“looks like it.”
“it’s almost like they didn’t know
that caring about each other
was the right thing to do.”
“weird, why do you think that was?”
“I don’t know,
I guess they were too afraid
to get to know each other.”
“but they had social media, right?”
“yeah, but they only used it,
to share hate speech,
frustrate each other,
and divide their beliefs.”
 
they'd put the snapshot
back in the box
unwilling to frame it
not worthy of display
or of warranting further observation.
bury that evil for another generation
to analyze and critique.
another people
to judge us in hindsight
for how poorly we handled things.
perhaps, one day,
following some future turmoil
which humankind
is bound to find itself in
they can look back
see the good we did
understand how the bad
pushed us to be better
changed us into a society
that demanded more
opened the opportunity for equity
that led us all
to make progress together
affording us the chance
to be ashamed of those of us
around in 2020
making things worse
or not doing enough
to make them better.
it can be these dark ages
that push us all
to accomplish more.
 
maybe that future people
would take the time
to put the snapshot on display
in a museum dedicated to change
highlight the good
by explaining the way
that bad people
in positions of power
pushed us to resist.
to resist fascism.
to resist tyranny.
to resist sexism,
homophobia, privilege, racism,
indoctrination of the young,
conditioning of the people,
violations of our rights,
exploitation of our freedom,
suppression of what makes us human,
our ability to care about each other,
love one another,
support one another.
right now
the snapshot would be a mess.
ugly, confused, out of focus.
right now we want to delete it,
but without it
how could we be certain that we had really grown?
 
without evidence of the shame
that this time in our lives
would reflect in this image
how could we possibly
inspect and adapt
to become the people
that we will be
in the future.
 
mislabeled “a dumpster-fire of a year”
it might be updated one day
to “the year things changed”
or “the year that shed light on all the issues.”
the descriptions will evolve
as our descendants reflect on us now.
not forgotten as the failures
but maybe some of us
will be remembered
as the ones that framed the shot
for a more clear future.