My Community

The people around me, my friends, my family, my peers.

I see them every day, barely talk to most of them.

But they are my community.

They know me, or parts of me.

My friends know my love of books, and writing, and drawing.

My family knows the way I smile and laugh as often as I can.

My peers know that I’m the one they turn to for help with schoolwork.

But do any of them truly know me?

Or do they know the me I show them?

The girl who stays quiet.

The girl who is always happy.

The girl who lets bullies get away.

The girl WHO DOESN’T SPEAK UP.

This isn’t the girl I want to be.

I want my community to see the me inside my heart.

And I want to see the truth of the others in my community too.

I don’t want to just scratch the surface of who people are.

I want to know them, truly know them.

But for now, I know, everyone only scratches the surface.

They only wade in the water.

They never dive in and swim.