LIFE CONTRADICTIONS
(From my work in progress "Watching the news".

By Amparo Jaramillo-Restrepo

"While Israeli children learned to play the piano, ours learned to throw stones."
Words of a Palestine mother after one of the riots in the Gaza Strip a few years ago.
Any similarity with the situation in so many countries around the world, including the 
Unites States and Colombia where the budget cuts affect always the poor and 
disadvantaged, is a pure coincidence.

Don't be surprised, brother,
If instead of loving
I learn to hate.
If instead of discovering
The world of science
And technology
I discover crime and violence.
If instead of creating
I learn to destroy.

Don't be surprised, brother,
If instead of dreaming about
Conquering the moon and the stars
I have to conform myself
With a few breadcrumbs
Discarded from your plate.

Don't be surprised, brother,
If someday my hand,
Which never learned love
Nor compassion, and
Which was never trained
To heal the wounded
Or build a better world
Turns against you.

Don't be surprised, brother,
Nothing grows in the dessert
But cactus!