“Tonight” by Ladan Osman

Tonight is a drunk man,

his dirty shirt.

There is no couple chatting by the recycling bins,

offering to help me unload my plastics.

There is not even the black and white cat

that balances elegantly on the lip of the dumpster.

There is only the smell of sour breath. Sweat on the collar of my shirt.
A water bottle rolling under a car.
Me in my too-small pajama pants stacking juice jugs on neighbors’ juice jugs.

I look to see if there is someone drinking on their balcony.

I tell myself I will wave.

At some point during our planet’s history, the citizens on the Earth changed. The Aztecs
viewed the world as a gift and sacrificed animals to their gods. The Native Americans would use
“nature’s gifts” to make food and medicines. The idea of nature being God’s gift was a tradition
throughout many different cultures, so how come the majority of the present society do not
continue this tradition? Ladan Osman expresses his opinions on how the Earth has deviated from
this tradition in his poem “Tonight.” Although it is only a few stanzas, “Tonight” describes the
dark truth about what people consider important as opposed to what they could care less about.
Carelessness has become a common characteristic of the Millennium Generation. To
Osman the“[night] is a drunk man, his dirty shirt,” which describes the common carelessness of
the people of the night and how they prefer to be drunk then focus on other important
things(Lines 1-2). In this case, the important things include the trash that scatters the street he is
on. He then references the idea that he is the only person at the recycling bin and no one is
“offering to help [him] unload [his] plastics” (Line 4). It is obvious that the narrator feels some
sort of sadness and disappointment towards the lack of help from others. He mentions that he is
drunk later in the poem and that if “[he] look[s] to see someone drinking on [his] balcony,” he’ll
wave (Line 10). His willingness to wave signifies that nothing is wrong with the being drunk and
forgetting everything else that matters. This implies that he is content with the fact that people
care more about drinking than helping. Although he feels the lack of generosity and charity
towards other people, it has become a normalized part of our society. Therefore, he accepts his
friends caring only for themselves.
The idea of selfishness has become a predominant trait in many citizens worldwide. It has
given permission to the human civilization to forget tradition and conservation. In turn, it is
much harder to convince people to change these ways and focus on the prosperity of our planet
rather than the prosperity of their future. Ladan Osman realizes this because his poem sets a tone
of pity and sorrow for the man who has no help. Without any help from the people on our planet,
the Earth will slowly decrease its ability to provide what humans need. Carelessness can be
avoided, but it needs be done sooner than later.