Thursday, October 23, 2014

Day Thirty-Three: "Fine"

At the beginning of my senior year I saw a TedX talk given by a teenage boy. He was the captain of his varsity team, he was popular; he seemed to have everything going for him. What people didn't realize was that he was depressed. He went on to talk about how many people who suffer from depression don't show it outwardly; they have a persona they put on at school or in groups to deal with society. They also do have their good days amidst their depression. This got me thinking about our culture, and we tend to shy away from emotional interactions. This prompted me to write this poem, which I have only ever shared with a few people.

The Fine Line
Why do we ignore the most important question?
When someone walk by and asks how we are we say fine.
One work.
Do they ask because they care or is it just the social norm?
Well, what if I'm not fine?
Society doesn't want to hear about what's wrong.
We don't care if you're less that "fine".
That's weakness; we're told to hold it in.
Why?
Why do we say that those who are less than "fine" are weak?
Why do we prey on the hurt? Tear them down and
Make them feel alone?
They're not weak. Our society is.
We are too weak to lift up those who stand alone.
Too weak to put out a hand and help them from their bed. We're too weak to show we care.
When someone breaks a bone we all run to help, but
When someone feels broken inside we run the other way.
Why?
Why do we leave these people to suffer alone?
Are we too afraid to show the imperfections in ourselves?
Well WAKE UP!
We're all human. We're not perfect,
No matter how many times we say we're fine.
Who are we trying to kid when we say those two words
"I'm fine."?
Society? Well society's got us all fooled if we
Think those two words cover the entire range of human emotions.
Turn on a light. Become enlightened.
Just because you see her smiling in the halls
Doesn't mean she's not holding pain inside.
Just because he's captain of the sports team
Doesn't mean he might not want to be around anymore.
These people aren't fighting a disease, like chicken pox.
It doesn't just go away.

-Libby Morehouse

1 comment:

  1. This is so true Libby. <3 Keep writing. :)
    - Emma Kessler

    ReplyDelete