PEDRO AVILES

if i had that kind of power, i would find a way to destroy it

Tonight’s the night i become an insomniac.

20A and I are flying high above the United States in an airplane. Out the window to my left I can see snow capped mountains ambling by. Deserts, rivers, cities drift along as in a dream. My neighbor begins to snore a bit, and the world below seems so peaceful, so serene. We are floating high above the homelessness, the hunger, the funerals, the murders, and the wars. In a couple hours this aircraft will land on a planet of social turbulence far beyond anything our plane could handle in the sky. Ours is a planet of polarity: the poor and the rich; the hungry and the well fed; the healthy and the terminally ill. Within these apparent contradictions we struggle for meaning. For dignity. For equality. The human story is built into this struggle.