Here in America, the country seems to be composed of two opposing forces that will constantly find something new to clash over. Today, it is about whether athletes should be able to exercise their right of freedom of expression and take a knee. Tomorrow, it will be about something new because there is always something new.

Here at SIUE, racial incidents of hate have overtaken what should, like any public college campus in America, be a tolerant and safe space. Regardless the issue and regardless the stance, people will always disagree. People will always want their opinion heard.

And people will rarely want to listen.

We live in a world of talkers,

Of shouters, of debaters, of know it alls.

Listening is a long extinct creature,

Unheard of by a species that has devolved to simply wait their turn to talk.

Conversations no longer flow like rivers,

Instead they are puddles:

Started, then abandoned to become bone dry.

We live in a world of talkers,

All raising their volume to be heard,

Shouting that their opinions are fact.

No being is exempt from the epidemic,

The infectious itch to crank the volume dial right

And scream that the other talkers are wrong.

We live in a world of talkers,

Of screamers, of bigots, of smart alecs

In a universe not made for this noise.

The voices get louder, the status updates get longer, the protests get deadlier.

We live in a world of talkers

And soon we will live in a world of mutes.