Two Voice Poem: Poverty - Life is short, make a difference

>>  Wednesday, May 24, 2017

I wandered across this poem, it was written by a teenage girl, Olivia,  I think: 


Italicized is voice one
Underlined is voice two
CAPS IS BOTH VOICES

I HATE MY HOUSE
My house is not big enough. Three floors will never be big enough.
The streets are my home

I HATE MY FAMILY
I wanted a pony for my birthday but all I got was another dog.
My family left me, abandoned me in the streets.

WHEN I'M HUNGRY...
I told my mother I wanted a big steak dinner. Of course I got it.
Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I'll find or collect enough money to get a small something at McDonald's. Most days, I'm left with trash.

BUT I HAVE A FUTURE
When I grow up, I'm going to be an astronaut that lives in a mansion with thousands of servants and hundreds of ponies.

When I get older, I wish to have received some kind of education, live in my own house, and start my own family.


I wonder if she underlined the poor child's voice because it is the important one to listen to.  Yes, yes we all matter etc but I find myself living in a middle class world of entitlement, where everyone thinks they have a right to everything - a parking space at the supermarket, a street light, a ...whatever first world problem presents today. (I'm not pretending to not be in the same pot)

I like to think that we each do our best to make the world a better place, but I do wonder if everyone is on the same page.

'Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,Nothing is going to get better. ...Nothing is going to get better. It's not.” ― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax.

It's not just about trees, it's about everything:

"Why should we let Syrian refugees in?" - have you seen their country?!

"Why should I give money to that homeless person, I work for my money, they could too" - do you know how the poverty trap works?

"Why should disadvantaged kids get more of a helping hand than my child, mine deserves the best too" - Me, myself and I

I think I'm just seeing so much of it out on social media, the absolutely shocking comments of people with a lack of tolerance about race, faith, ethnicity, demographics, sexuality. The list seems almost endless, there seems to be nothing now that people aren't ashamed to put out there even the legitimisation of 'Britain First' as an acceptable thing to like and share on social media.

How did we get here?  As you rush through your day: STOP, take a moment, just a brief moment, to look around.  Look at the people that don't have. If they are here in front of you give them the money for a coffee. If they are on the page of a newspaper give to DEC. And if money is not the way forward: Give your time.  Volunteer here in the UK, there are a million ways to help.  Or just spend sometime raising awareness with your friends about a world of discrimination, open eyes about what is so wrong with a world of hate for people that are different or may get a piece 'of ours'.

Life is short, make a difference. 






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