My mother, my aunt, my friend, are under the rubble, the lady from 7-C and her two cats are under the rubble. I can hear one of them crying, or is it a baby crying under the rubble. Your house, the school, the mosque are under the rubble and the dogs are sniffing and sniffing and sniffing … Is anyone alive there under the rubble. Don't cry, be quiet … I am trying, trying, trying to listen for voices under the rubble. Can I reach the hand of my brother under the rubble? We were trying, trying, trying to keep up your house and the school and the mosque in the midst of the shame of a democracy that was already crumbling, and the corruption of a state that was already crumbling, and the fear of the voices that were already silenced, and the affronts to the people by power-hungry men conspiring against humanity. But Earth can be affronted too by greedy power that can't even respect the life around it. Earth has its own cares and does not tend to our endeavors, and our country, which was already crumbling is now in ruins. I can barely breathe here under the rubble.