Us and Them

Us and Them
---- Big Frank Dickinson

"The self is not known directly but either observed in actions or inferred from social events, which is why the self is harder to know and understand than, say, a table or a spoon."
---- Roy Baumeister

What does it mean to say that
You know your car engine better than your heart,
Even if you never take it apart?

Is there some meaning attached
To the fact, you can show people your shoes
But are quite at a loss to point out your virtues?

We travel far to gaze out at famous vistas,
But neglect the close-by view of our fears,
Or the sight of confidence as a thin veneer.

Weather patterns, records, and trends are all recited,
Yet motivations, determinations and fights
Are all less well known than the night.

We tally up our bank account to the exact dollar
But rarely ask ourselves the meaning of the total sum
Of all it is that we have done.

The eye must go abroad in order to be lit.
Our planet came first into view
When we abandoned it.