Words inspired by Charles Bukowski, art inspired by Le Keran's "Flying a kite in Yangliuqing"

"We're all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn't. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing." - Charles Bukowski

Any given day, I could be driving along on the highway feeling perfectly fine, and then suddenly someone cuts me off, and I'm no longer loving towards anyone. I'm impatient with my son talking loudly from the backseat about seeming trivialities. I rush to grab the last shopping basket at the grocery store, leaving another shopper empty-handed. My conscience could be pricked by feelings of guilt and remorse, but the voices are easy enough to silence when you've had as much practice as I have over the years.

• It's every man for himself out here.
• He needs to respect my boundaries.
• If I don't stand up for myself, I'll just become someone else's doormat.

Do these thoughts sound familiar to you? Why is it so easy to forget to love, or maybe not necessarily forget it, but why is it easy demote it to a position of lesser value?