I Am
I am weak. I am strong. I am right. I am wrong. I am everything in between and more. But what else?
I am nothing but a label that everyone knows. I am what I show you and that’s all. Nobody knows the things that I don’t show, the things I don’t reveal, like a letter with my contents unknown, with that seemingly unbreakable seal.
Take this all in. It may seem stupid but it all applies to you. That girl who wears too much makeup to hide how she really looks. The boy failing school for sports when all he must do is take another look at his books. That one person who is terrorized for being a pound over weight or that boy criticised for not seeming straight...
A label doesn’t make you, but the ideas can shake you. When you think you’re one thing, but seen as the exact opposite, that is hard to bear.
Being fat, skinny, smart, silly, dumb, popular, sporty, lazy, weird, mean, nice, tall, short, black, white, gay, straight, slutty, nerdy, pretty, ugly, anything that you’ve ever been called! It doesn’t mean anything if you don’t acknowledge it.
I know I am weird, I know I am crazy. I know I am rough, I know I am lazy. I know I am quirky, I know I am loud. I know I am annoying, but nonetheless, I am proud. Proud to be here, proud to be seen. Proud to be the one and only, original me.
Proud to be heard, proud to be. Proud to be noticed without being anything but me.
I know that you’re thinking that you’ve done nothing wrong, you’re the face of innocence, the sweet melody of a song. I’m sorry to say this, but it is the truth. You’re wrong about that and I have proof.
Newsflash: nobody cares who you think is the prettiest. Nobody cares about who you think is an idiot. If you think that you’re funny by calling someone out, you’re the pathetic one who has the audacity to make them doubt. Doubt themselves by saying “YOU DON’T FIT IN” when all they’ve ever done is invited you in. Into their lives, into their memories, into the book that tells their story with painful secrets that they risked letting you see.
You think that you know everyone at a glance, you size them up and judge them without giving them a chance. You call yourself someone’s friend and you say you mean it. You speak sweet words of friendship, but behind their backs, you demean it.
Before you say that boy is gay or that girl is slutty or that boy is stupid and that girl looks ugly, take a look at yourself, think long and hard, and ask yourself this: What if people saw ME like that?
Copyright © Belle Greenberg | Year Posted 2017
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