Opinion

This feels like the countdown to doomsday.

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...Proposing all branches be put under presidential control...

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My happiness had grown tremendously after a week of using a gratitude journal. Taking a moment each night to reflect on something or someone you are grateful for made my day so much better. It helped me focus on the positive aspects of my life.

How do I see the world? I see a lot of bad things. That’s what the news likes to show us. There’s war, poverty, hunger, death, school shootings, plane crashes, and of course the looming threat of climate change.

They don't think I notice

They don't think I notice how stingy we're becoming:

They don't think I notice the reluctance to use the propane heat.

They don't think I notice how cold it is when I crawl out of bed every morning.

Dear World, 

I am teenager. I am on the cusp of life, a time when my entire life is ahead of me yet I am beginning to feel as if some parts of it are behind me. 

I hate having genuine friends. I hate feeling connection.  I hate how comfortable I feel. I hate how I feel like it’s okay stupid around them.  I hate that I know I’m being genuine around them.

The world has long since held me down and forced me to instill myself with the notion that I am worthless.

I am not.

Or am I?

I grew up in a world that taught me I should be "Ladylike"

My grandparents tell me "Well that's not very ladylike."

My parents say, "Why do you act like that."

What is ladylike?

They call me different because of the way I look, act, learn

But they say it like it's a bad thing

I am different. I am. But I am not embarrassed by it, I am not ashamed.

My favorite flower is a sunflower

Sunflowers represent

Happiness,

Positivity,

And Loyalty

There is more but these I personally think are the best and most important...

What do I do,  

as a black woman, 

when they get control?   

When the consequences 

don't matter anymore? 

When I watch my people 

get bullied, 

a lesbian couple on my bus home from school 

a man in a punk battle jacket on the street 

my mother's female CEO group chat blowing up 

four of my teachers taking the following day off