Creative Corner: Be Yourself, Go Ahead and Try
October 18, 2016
Are you afraid?
Afraid of showing your skin
Afraid of holding hands
Afraid of speaking your first language
Constantly condemned.
Do you feel safe?
Safe from bullets
Safe from whistles
Safe from slurs
Protected by chance.
Have you ever been moved by a story that was not your own?
A story where you didn’t become the main character,
Where you were the side-kick,
Written off as a minority,
A token.
Unworthy of having your own story
Only useful to someone else
Because your value lies
In another’s eyes.
Have you ever feared for your life?
When you are innocent of crime
Yet your life is constantly on the line
Even before you’ve made it to sixteen
Because you Looked Older
Because you Acted Suspiciously
Because who knew it was a book in your backpack
Because you Were Too Loud
Because you are—
People treat you with veiled disdain
When they think they already know your name—
One you never chose but
One that arose
From misplaced power
That you try to reclaim
But when you’re shot,
Not to incapacitate,
No, it’s much too late,
When you’re truly dead,
No one remembers your name.
Riots only last for so long,
A statute of limitations
Based on how valuable you were.
A desperate cry for equality
Seen only as another tragedy
To acknowledge the injustice
And leave it be.
Isn’t there a better way, you say?
A better way that has been tried
By a jury that doesn’t consider themselves peers
And convicted over and over and over again
A verdict that sears
Mistrust into the criticized
As they stand and watch others with worse offenses
Become baptized.
Yet we are still surprised
When another injustice arises
A week later.
Have you ever feared for your life?
Have you ever had the audacity to love?
Don’t you know we regulate that?
You can only love half.
Half of the world,
Half of your species,
Half of yourself.
You can’t have it all.
You can’t have health care.
This is your punishment.
You defied their beliefs,
So now you suffer.
You watch
As the one you love most in this world,
Your other half,
Lives the rest of life in agony.
The rest of the world uncaring,
Silently smirking
As the scientists are shirking.
They don’t look for a cure.
Don’t you wish you were more demure?
The world is self-cleansing they say,
Like a bloody, unused egg.
You can’t have that word.
An ancient pact of devotion
That predates the religions
Who claim control over its use
And even over the rights it gives you.
How uncivil,
That a union
So strong should be denied
Its right filled name.
You can’t be proud.
You can’t have fun.
You once felt safe in places
Specifically made for your comfort
Welcoming those who wanted to feel accepted.
But now you can’t feel safe.
You walk in wondering if anyone has a gun.
Your pulse now races faster than the music
Trying to enjoy yourself despite the fear.
You don’t even feel like you belong here.
Have you ever feared for your life?
Stranded in a land
Radicalized by strife.
Lost hearing
From the explosions
Ever nearing
You and your home and your family and
Everything you’ve ever known?
Only to try and run,
To try and save just one
Of the people you cherish more than yourself.
Someone is supposed to be helping you,
But you never understand how
As you and your home and your family and
Everything you’ve ever known becomes
Collateral Damage.
Certain death now, or a chance of certain death later?
Turned away at the door
Telling you they can’t take any more
Not even the infant in your arms
Babbling softly to comfort you
And you wonder at how someone so new
Already adores you
And how those ones now old
Could be so cold.
My favorite memory
Is my one moment of Freedom,
The one moment I wasn’t afraid.
One moment to be me
Without fear of conflict or death.
A simple right
We hardly get to use.
A moment of safety
Beyond the abuse.
Your favorite memory
Tells your values.
Everyone deserves to have that
Moment of happiness.
Please trust me,
Know that apathy
Only protects your mind,
Not your body, not your lover, not your family.
Thoughts are kind and appreciated,
But unproductive.
Actions:
Speaking out, Standing up, Voting,
Linking arms, Sharing food, Building Homes.
We all seek
A world full of empathy.