Within the Edges of the Print

By: Gracie (Goose) Wootton

If you’ve read the novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, you’d know that there’s not much that separates our current society from evolving into dystopia. 

I picked up the book around the same time that I first explored the Israeli government and the life experiences they create for the people of Gaza.

I think the following lines from the book can apply to our American society:

"We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edge of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories."

Through reading, we can experience vicarious grief, a flash of empathy, but never a true understanding of the daily horrors some dwell in daily.

In reality, these horrors are not the things that happen in a fantasy world within our phone screen. 

It is a real place. 

With real people.

And it is not far away.

Unlike so many, I can get in my car and drive to a grocery store, or change the temperature of the air in my house with the click of a button. For those of us living comfortable lives, the wars, famines, bombings, and natural disasters can feel worlds away.

We all lead our own lives — each consisting of extreme complexity and authentic experience. It’s natural to only see what stands directly in front of us. Our attention is drawn to what lies within our limited region of perception. 

There are metrics that attempt to illustrate the intricate problems of a working adult, the sleep deprivation of a parent, the cost of living for a community. 

But these numbers don’t carry the weight of the long hours, medical expenses, marital conflicts, infinite house chores, mental health, and all the other taxes of simply being alive. 

Along with the emotional taxes go the physical ones that fund conflict. Our very essence is stuck in a perpetual cycle; tied down to fiscal taxes and their emotional equivalent: 

walking through each and every day. 

To put it bluntly, we are busy. 

However, sometimes preoccupation becomes a subconscious excuse to maintain a sort of ignorance towards so much of the brokenness we encounter.

Nothing eliminates the fact that we have things to get done. We cannot possibly keep up with the pace of our own lives and simultaneously eliminate the world’s suffering. 

When that last bell rings…

When the clock hits 5… 

When the job is done…

The energy and attention we have left seems to be allocated, more and more, towards the meretricious issues and tension presented in politics. They seem big, and according to certain agendas… they are. 

But when you picture the foundational things that make life worth living: meaningful relationships, personal growth, a sense of purpose, (at least, to me) how are those other things even remotely comparable to what is truly the source of all light and beauty in the world?

So much of the political discourse of today is, in my opinion, smoke and mirrors to distract us from actual cruelty present in our world. When we focus on this, we forget humanity. We forget compassion. And most of all, we forget unity.

There is so much power that comes from maintaining respect for humanity in this world. From that mutual respect, comes unity. 

And in unity: nobody lacks. 

We serve each other, we motivate each other. It doesn’t take affiliation with a certain political party for this to be ideal. 

There are people suffering and there are people prospering. That’s life. 

But can we not create a network of support, a world where we show people love?

Are the political and religious ideologies so great that we believe someone's suffering is deserved?

“It’s not my fault that the world is like this.” 

You’re right! 

But that crisis at work also wasn’t your fault. 

That glass your kid broke wasn’t your fault. 

The car accident that made you late this morning wasn’t your fault.

There are so many things that we have no control over, yet reap the consequences of. Just like the people born without a nurturing family, or without access to necessities in the necessary capacity. Just like the people who don’t see things from the same scope as you. 

My purpose of writing this is to pose a question: 

What would society look like if we collectively recognized the joys that come from simply caring for the person next to us? 

A world where we could abandon dogmatism, bias, and a superiority complex. Or at least learn those words and point them out when we see them.

And welcome the idea that one group or belief doesn’t have to hold your complete, unfiltered loyalty.

I hope you can join us in 

welcoming compassion. And a posture that has you

ready to be there for anyone, anyplace, anytime.

By: Gracie (Goose) Wootton

Gracie (Goose) Wootton

From the Author:

My name is Gracie Wootton, but most people call me Goose! I’m 17 and I live in Woodstock, GA with my family of five: My dad, Kris, my mom, Jenica, my younger sister, Lyla, and my twin brother, Jackson. They hold my whole heart, and I feel inspired by each of them every single day. I recently came out with my debut poetry book called “Introspection”; in it, I emphasize (to me) one of the most important concepts: The Act of Freely Expressing. You have thoughts and beliefs and ideas that could stand to change somebody, and that should be incentive enough to share what you know. I think you’ll find that in my writing, that’s exactly what I try to do. And one final thing, never be too distracted to care!