An Appeal of Solidarity

An empty stage, dimly lit.  Actors wearing coats and hats enter from both sides of the stage.  Faces are smeared in soot.  They say, in unison:

If we've failed, it's not for lack of trying.

We listened.  We watched.  We stood behind.

We tried to back you up without getting in your way.

A man steps forward:

If I've failed, it's not for lack of trying.

I listened.  I empathized.  I served you as best I could.

I tried to support you without telling you what to do.

And if I was too passive, too aggressive, too fast, too slow, I'm sorry.

I tried.  But I just couldn't keep your pace.

A woman steps forward:

If I've failed, it's not for lack of trying.

I listened.  I learned.  I practiced this new language of yours.

We both speak English, but your way of talking is not the way I think.

But I'm trying to catch up to your generation, without seeming like I try too hard.

I tried.  But I just couldn't get it right.

A child steps forward  Under the hat, one cannot tell if it is a boy or a girl:

If I fail, it won't be for lack of trying.

I'm honest.  I'm blunt.  I tell you what I think.

That's the best gift I can give you, but perhaps you don't like it?

I'm trying, and I'll keep trying until I fail.