Contemplate who you want to be - what you want the future generations to know and see. Be the change, show kindness, and bring the peace. Divided yet, but still room to grow. Build your gardens high and let sunlight flow. Drizzle life along its lines, and hope to all that when we fight, it’s for our collective lives.

Every day I think about the future of our world, our country, ourselves. What we have gained, what we stand to lose, and what we have yet to concur. We are a growing society. A growing population of change - we teach the next generation to stand for themselves - and damn, they are! We may not all have every basic right that we deserve, but we are fighting for it. Fight hatred with fact. Fight bigotry with love. Most importantly... fight them with acceptance.

Place another

Chunk of ribbed edges

Alongside my tattered ones.

Coax the demons out

Headfast

Forlong.

Dip your heart in subtleties,

Honey-glazed and sugar-coated.

Dare to dream of better tomorrows

Where we are all equal.

Throw up your fist and fight.

For Woman.

Where they are not

To be idolized as prizes.

For Man.

Where they are not

To be told that tears are “unmanly.”

For Trans.

Where they are not

To be harmed for being 100% authentic.

For Black.

Where they are not

To be demoralized and damaged for wanting change.

For Cultures not your own.

Where they are not

To be shouted at to go back where they came from.

Fight for tomorrows -

When today is not

Set in glistened stone,

Where hatred guides -

Where love subsided.

Be we not divided

By bigots and cruelty?

Shall we not journey

To better moments?

Our children

Launder their skin in

Greatness...

When it’s presented to them.

Hatred

Learned and unfiltered

Sinks in

Brick by brick

Soulless layers slithering

To the pits of bleakness.

Another layer

Gone cold.

Desire to be seen,

Knowing that time

Has not been kind.

Wakanda forever.

Praise Allah.

It is OK to cry.

My Body is MY temple.

Be the change

You wish to see.

Keep hearing the mantra

Change.

Change.

Be Heard

Be Seen

Be You.

When the world is unkind, set the story straight. When the people are unaccepting, remember to love them anyway. When someone's opinion does not mirror your own, respect that they too are human. We may not be what they want, but we can fight them - just start with kindness.