Upsetting

This week’s big viral video is of a United Airlines passenger being forcibly removed by police officers from an over-booked flight. The President of U.A., and others hoping to be as innocuous as possible, called the incident upsetting.

Upsetting is the word that seems to distill the divisive event into one agreeable sentiment. A lot of human emotion is extended for events we look at and end up calling upsetting. Here’s a draft of a poem that includes a distillation of emotions that are part of an upsetting event.

VS.

An upsetting event

Communication failure
Opportunity blown
Brows scrunched
Voices raised

Escalation

Threats hurled
Positions pressed
Agitation increased
Blood boiled

Blame placed
Explanations attempted
Mea Culpas extended
Apologies demanded

The upset lingers