Binary

by Mithra Vankipuram

What is right and what is wrong,

But two thoughts observing each other?

Thoughts separated by a chasm;

Sometimes narrow, sometimes deep,

Sometimes wide and other times steep.

Thoughts that observe each other from a distance;

Polarized and charged by what makes them different.

I’m on a journey to allow myself to see more possibilities than the ones I perceive in front of me — Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, Shylock and Antonio, good versus evil, friend or foe? This was the first step I took — softening the harsh edges of binary choices by reframing them as simple thoughts, not rigid opinions; Thoughts that, while contrasting, are still in relation with each other. These thoughts are not on the same side but separated by a chasm; chasms that come in different shapes and forms. I again soften the edges of binary thinking by visualizing varying distances separating my thoughts. In the last two lines, I recognize that though I may reframe this notion to soften my own binary judgment, what makes binary thinking inherently dangerous is the sharp focus on differences instead of similarities and the raw emotion that creates and shapes the chasm in-between.