I really don’t know why I have to explain myself, but I’ll try

I’ve been told to move on from Afghanistan,

because it’s old news (already?).

And that there are newer wars to talk and write about

and a new kind of people who are suffering and need my attention.

I’ve been told I sound monotonous, maybe like a broken record,

stuck. And don’t those simply make screeching noises?

(I wasn’t trying to sing songs anyway.)

I’ve heard them say over the news,

these are people who look like us.

Well, maybe that’s what I’ve been trying to say as well.

These are people who look like us.

And what is it about choices that confuse us human beings so?

Can one not choose to make enough room in one’s heart

to accommodate more than one type of person?

We are choosing multiple wars, aren’t we,

with people who look like us and those who don’t.

We are choosing to separate, segregate, divide, and

kill, torture, and destroy.

By the end of it all, we no longer care what kind of faces

we wage war on. So, why make noise out of truth

and label my perseverance as monotonous.

Maybe, my reasons are as shallow (or real?) as the ones I’ve been hearing.

Maybe, I persist because these people are people who look like me.

Shikha S. Lamba is a Jewellery Designer, Co-editor Coffee and Conversations Magazine & Poet