The Necessity to Speak by Sam Hammill

Hammill tells of the necessity to speak, to speak the truth, and to take responsibility of what goes on in our own back yards. Hammill encourages us to not be afraid of what exist in our world, and to confront it, that it’s it only then that we have control and the power to amend our wrongs.
Hammill speaks of murder, the Victim and the executioner; Painting a picture of society hiding, hiding from the truth, murdering their children in the process by hiding them from the world, denying the youth history that is them. Hammill believes that by parents negating to tell children of the realities of the world: murder, rape, war, lie, that parents have become executioners, and worst of all the children the victims. Hammill suggest that we as a society have desensitized ourselves from reality, not being open to the harsh realities of the world. And that only when the truth is told to the youth, the surreal possibilities of the world, thing that according to Hammill parents fear telling; fear because they believe will make their children become victims, victims of the truth that they hid them from, but the truth is that the truth only prepares them for that possibly.
Hammill also helps us in the amending process, encouraging us to use our emotions, and not be afraid of them. Hoping that we recognize our mistakes, saying that we should not be ashamed of our emotions that men should not be a shamed of what they feel, especially because of some gender role applied by society. That woman should not be treated less than a man, paid less, and treated as an inferior being because it’s the norm in society. Persuading us as a society to be open with our emotions, that doing so it could teach us about the residing mistakes in the world, and that just because some aspects of the world don’t reside in our lawn does not mean it’s not affecting us.
A while a go I read two poems; Sharon olds “Rite of Passage”, a story of her son’s birthday party, she writes of how she felt watching the kid in the party interact, giving her thoughts and emotions on the event. I also read Santiago Baca’s”Immigrants in Our Own Land”, a poem of the life of an Immigrant, and its turmoil. So now that I read Hammill’s “The Necessity to speak” I feel I’m a murderer, a murderer by Hammill’s definition of murder. Sharon Olds “Rite of Passage” was a warm, funny, lovable story of a mother watching a checkpoint in her son’s life, portraying these kids innocence through the poem. I can only imagine being a parent, and I would never trade a moment of my child’s happiness like the one Olds capture in her poem. Reality is harsh and I would whant to prepare my child for the world, but I guess I would like to do it as slow as possible. Giving him the wisdom the world has to offer, but never negating him of a happiness his child has to offer too, that I feel this harsh world can take from him/her.