By now I’m sure you have walked into a room and felt as though there was something going on in the room that no one wanted to or dare talk about. But the unspoken remained just as present as the individuals present. The older folks would sometimes say, “you can cut the tension with a knife”, as though tension was a physical object. Truth is, feelings and emotions can sometimes be so strong their energy creates a sense of a personified presence in a room. Yet there are times when those feelings, though obvious, are ignored because it makes us confront such strong emotions face to face. Since emotions are originated in one’s heart, I would say confronting one's state of heart can be quite a challenge for most of us if not all of us depending on how deep into our hearts we must travel to reach the root of the displayed emotion. 
 
Taboo
socially prohibiting discussion or association of a person place or thing
 
Do you remember? You could sense there was something that needed to be addressed but was clearly avoided. Such awkwardness. Whether the opted silence was a result of not wanting to ruffle feathers of anger or not wanting to ignite pain. The elephant in the room remained evident as taboo staked its claim.
Depending upon the type of culture you were born into there are quite a few different approaches to dealing with topics that may be taboo to others. Ignoring the elephant in the room is not always the best idea because avoiding and deflecting as an attempt to ignore what makes one uncomfortable only prolongs the inevitable. At some point one must deal with the elephant because it is occupying space that has crowded the atmosphere.
There is an elephant in the room of every country in the world. No one seems to want to talk about it, so we have chosen to continue in our pain. If we are all honest, we have a commonality that every race and ethnicity has had to continue to stand in a room with as though it does not exist. Our elephant is the pain of grief that we as a world have all had to live with daily during this era. Continuing to turn a blind eye towards the silent cries will not make the pain go away.