After just 18 hours, newborns begin experiencing distress in the presence of distressed individuals
Emotional contagion begins when the newborn in your
neighborhood crib realizes that Dick Cheney profited from the
Iraq war, and you’ve not yet investigated, but your
tears fall with just the same socially-just ferocity
Years later, you are a baby with a queen-sized bed and your
Lover, your roommate, your mother all have some distress but
the emotional contagion becomes a sort of modest discomfort
A tight jaw, a date with Jameson, the reason you took up transcendental meditation
The psychological basis of any political campaign, the G-spot of suffering,
The research behind an intangible cure from a body language expert in a red tie
Who’s forgotten how to cross arms and point one finger,
Who wouldn’t pose a plan without a corresponding no-no list
that looks disturbingly similar to the other party’s preferences and it
becomes an obvious decision, it becomes as polarized
As support for “butt stuff,” and you never get a taste of the
Other end.
I was speaking with a newborn in a hospital the other day, an independent but
Leaning more towards libertarian socialism, and I asked her why
She stopped crying when the nearby baby was mournful or afraid
And she said, waaa ahhhh hee aaaaahwwaaaa-- a profound notion
Of course she would say that her developing intellect has nullified seemingly
Unjustified fears and that her father’s outspoken, high-brow detestation
Of organized religion has helped her understand the difference between
Baby and bundle of cells, and that a Youtuber baby’s constant “woke-ness,” despite a
Newborn’s typical 16 hours of sleep, has encouraged her to question that
Which seemed impossible for herself
Now, I’m a devout atheist, baby, but I do remember the pre-Confirmation era
The religious assembly I attended called, probably, Lucifer the Liberal
The pictures of flesh and blood, the Murdered child of God caption, the kind
And trustworthy man in the robe, whispering beliefs into my subconscious
I remember the conservative in me, stemming from fear, not stupidity
I remember when I couldn’t say abortion until I said pregnancy scare
We live in New York-- it’s easy to forget that liberalism is a minority
That resistance rests benignly on our skin, soaking up sunlight
That open-minded today may be cancerous tomorrow, that a young man will call
Us ignorant for using a term from 2016, that we will try and try to be the perfect
Liberals, but we were born with fear and emotional contagion
Into a world where Trump was just any large man with small hands
Ruby Anderson is a lover of learning, overcaffeinating and pounding fists to buoyant classical music.