LOCKED IN & LOCKED OUT ! (Portrait & Blog by Neha Bisht) "Not a branch, not a twig, not a hand to hold on to. The abyss sucks me deeper and deeper. I am locked in & locked out ..."

The world today is more deceptive than it ever was ! Everything seems normal. Festive lights twinkle with joy. Homes look warm with designer fireplaces and beautiful decors. There is music.The world looks as if it just stepped out of a storybook. But none of this is real warmth.

Despite the crowd , people are lost and lonely. We are all locked in & locked out !!

These are times that are more unstable and unsafe than ever before. The reason is not that something evil has seeped in that was not there before. The reason is emotional isolation of the individual in an overpopulated, apathetic, insensitive, blind and deaf and rude society.

We are locked in our sorrows and locked out of the cushion of support

This emotional isolation is insidious and harrowing. It is eating the society like termites. Creating “hollow pillars” that seem strong, but are ready to collapse any moment.

Chicken Licken was right ! Sky is falling !!! :)

War or Riot is a situation of a complete dismantling of a social structure. There is a collective trauma, suffering and collapse of people or community or nation. The destruction and suffering is immense. But it is a collective suffering. There is no sense of shame attached to the suffering, because the whole nation or community is suffering the same torture and fate.

The shared misfortune unites people in a circle of help and compassion. Survival, rebuilding together takes precedence over all sense of shame, rebuke and isolation.

People collectively reach out for help.

The entire world joins hands to help the fallen community or nation. Resources are mobilised to uplift the victimised community. Doors are freely opened to provide jobs, shelter and amnesty to the victims.

World War 1 , World War 2 , Jew Holocaust, caused untold devastation . Entire Europe burned. Death and destruction and violence ripped Europe apart. Fortunes fell. Families were broken and separated. Children were orphaned , women were widowed, young men lost lives and limbs and were scarred for life. Civil War created a blood bath in America. Russian revolution soaked Russia in horrors of murders and killings. 1947 Riots in India opened a wormhole of atrocities and led to one of the greatest and the most agonising and large-scale displacement of a community.

The list of horrors in human history are unending and impossible to be documented.

But if the glass is half empty, it is also half full !

After each horror and trauma the world got together to uplift and rehabilitate the people. The community itself joined hands to rebuild itself.

In a situation of a collective collapse, people stand together to give each other strength and wipe the tears from each other’s eyes and heal the scars that they all feel. Every child is adopted, every woman is sheltered, every man is helped. No uncomfortable questions are asked. No sermons are given. No accusations, no allegations. World unites to help.

But this is not the case when an individual suffers.The individual’s agony is never heard or heeded.

The young victim of gang-rape in the neighbourhood may never be able to heal herself or speak of her pain. The young mother with her child, left alone to fend for herself, who should she turn to, when all eyes rebuke. There is no one coming for them to help them up.

The affluent looking neighbour may never be able to share his trauma over a stock market crash that has left him penniless. And perhaps die of untimely heart attack, leaving his family to a worse fate!

So many families during 80’s recession committed suicide.

It is not that their fate was worse. It is just that they were emotionally isolated. Unable to reach out for fear of shame or rebuke.

Breakdown of familial ties and a dysfunctional and insensitive family and society, has led to emotional isolation. Emotional isolation leads to hyper fear and anxiety. It is as if everyone is living in the shadow of some nightmare.

The chaos in the social structure is not apparent. But it is palpable in everything around.

What agony or trauma, the person walking down the street is battling with, we do not know.

Today Families and Individuals face trauma and suffering alone.They are alone in their struggles, living their personal hell in silence.

Yet, on the surface all seems fine.

But the truth is far from fine !

When an individual breaks down and ends it’s life , it is proof that the family has failed him miserably.

When a family commits suicide, then it is a warning that Society and all social systems have failed its citizens miserably.

Unfortunately, they are both on the rise today.

This cover version of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sounds of silence” by Nouela , accurately portrays the broken soul of the society today.

Sound of silence . Version by Nouela .

( Here I would like to mention a photo post Blank Stares by @budifatria
https://steemit.com/life/@budifatria/blank-stares-895df92649b6a. Do see the pain that exists in the world…. )

Locked In & Locked Out ..... My Pencil Portraits are in support of my writing…

THERE IS NOT A BRANCH, NOT A TWIG, NOT A HAND TO HOLD ON TO.
THE ABYSS SUCKS ME DEEPER AND DEEPER.
I AM LOCKED IN AND LOCKED OUT .........

Toxic Silence …………………………………………............Veiled Thoughts

Pencil portraits by Neha Bisht / Style Expressionism

My artwork (Pencil Portrait) is in support of my writing as illustration.
Thank you for viewing, reading and appreciating :).
&
Thank you so much for your love and support, @nehab :)