In James Patrick Kinney’s poetic parable “The Cold Within”, the poet has shown through a simple story how discriminatory attitude can lead to the doom of humankind. There gathered six people with different identities — two with different colors, two with different religious faith, and two with different social classes. That is why they were prejudiced against one another and let their selfishness, prejudice, malice and suspicions to dictate their actions. Though they badly needed to share their logs to keep the fire burning in order to keep themselves warm and alive in the freezing night, none of them were prepared to do that. In the end they were found frozen to death, each clutching the log in their hands.

Now, people wonder what would have happened if one of them, for example the black man, had shared his log to keep the fire burning. Probably the white man would have a feeling of regret that he had ill-feelings against the black man who is now helping save his life. So, he would go and hug that black man and befriend him. He would also offer his own log of wood to celebrate their friendship. And seeing the union of the Black and White, the others — the poor and the rich, and the two with separate religions would also make friends, thus forming a united group of six in the spirit of fraternity. They would all share their logs to keep the fire burning, symbolic enough of their own warm human spirits that would have helped them to live and let live — to live together.

And if it so happened, the ending of the poem would have been something like

Their logs kept them from death’s still hands
Was proof of human heart.
They did not live by the warm without
The warm within I assert.