Today has been an internal battle for me. Last night, I found out that two of my elderly family members have COVID-19. One is currently brain-dead. The other, I'm told, is doing as well as she can. But considering her pre-COVID condition, I'd be shocked if she survived. My struggle today is not only one of coming to terms with an afterlife and death itself. It is also an anger I feel with myself for not being as attentive as I could've been. But when I get down to why I didn't, part of it is my own cowardice and laziness. However, the large hurdle is capitalist and oppressive systems which are made to tear communities apart from the potential they have.

It's good that I watched Seven Samurai as I fought this internal battle today, as it is the perfect examination of what we can do when we go against oppressive systems. Yet, it never softens what those systems do. So many horrific scenes are formulated to show the consequences of rebellion. Many of the conflicts are not from natural human hatred but from the greed that is bred into our conscious through socialization.

We are not exempt from our actions, but the system awards us for malicious practices. The few people we can call honorable are those who actively fight that temptation with the needs of others at the forefront of their minds