I’ve been really inspired by the #MeNext and the #marchforourlives movement, thinking about what it was like to be young myself and have anxiety to both be picked on and or be harmed while in school. We had gangs around our schools, but I never feared gun violence from inside our school. This all around fear that young people are experiencing, so much so that they’re compelled to speak up and protest, is truly inspiring.
What’s even more inspiring is they are sticking up for those who are being bullied and looking within to see if their kindness to themselves and others could possibly win.
Here’s one I dedicate to those who are speaking up, being more self aware, and showing love to those who need it.
Running away from the moment of truth, you begin to see all that you control.
Each step you make, you own.
Each word, your own.
All this power wrapped within me, why is this the first time we meet?
Where have you been, my voice, my words, my actions?
How did this happen?
When was this awareness bestowed upon me?
I didn’t hear this in nighttime stories, read to me by me each lonely night when I cried myself to sleep, wrapped up so tight.
This power to control myself, where is this advertised?
Not for sure on the news, by those who rule, who carry the secret we cannot read.
Not because it’s not our native language, we all speak this tongue, but because my self awareness carry’s no gun.
I don’t need to protect myself from myself, I need to open the door and take out the locks, and be the one who joins the walks.
All this time I was here, controlling my fingers, my eyes and my ears.
My legs slip into my pants, and then there’s that first glance and I see my choice to take a stance.
You’ve been here all along, waiting for me to play this precious song, that I controlled but didn’t know.
With this newfound power, I will remind myself and others, that we own this island of islands, not others.