Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.
You gave me a taste of what it was to be treated as a human. I have nothing left in my palms. Not words, not kindness. You took away what it meant to be feeling, until this giant hole in my chest left me rotting on my bedsheets for weeks. I’ve been pushing everyone away since you’ve been gone. Can’t speak to my mother, lost faith in everyone’s laments. You treated me with humanity and left me behind where I was never meant to be human. You gave me empathy, taught me to listen, made me believe that there must be people out there worth giving my life for. I did give my life in the end. Even though I always felt like I never had one to start with. I gave my life for you and you told me you never asked for it. You taught me empathy until it turned into cruelty. You taught me patience turns into resentment. You taught me that people get tired of listening to someone who treats you like a god just because you showed them a little basic human kindness. You taught me that I could give you everything and I would still be the one to blame at the end. The world is a kaleidoscope and I’m the outer paint, chipping away. These cogs and patterns are meant for someone else’s life. I’ve only ever been meant for watching from the outside.
Syrian kids deserve a chance to feel the childish joy of running out of their houses at the sound of an ice cream truck and buying ice cream
Pakistani kids deserve the chance to go to an amusement park and feel the rush of the wind in their face as they try the biggest rollercoaster in the park
Afghan kids deserve a day to sleep in and wake up lazily to the warm glow of the sun and the sound of happy voices coming from downstairs
A young Iraqi girl deserves the chance to discover the amazing world of cake decorating and realize that she was born to decorate incredibly stunning cakes
A boy from Uganda deserves to fulfill his dream of becoming a singer because his whole family and all his neighbours always praise his beautiful voice
A little Somali girl deserves to know all the different art mediums that exist so she can explore her God given talents as an artist and mesmerize everyone with her work
A brown man enslaved in Kuwait deserves to wake up early and surprise his wife with breakfast in bed and to hold her in his arms
A little boy in North Korea deserves to feel the nervous excitement as he gets on a plane to fulfill his dream of traveling the world
A Palestinian girl deserves her chance to stun the world with her superior acting skills, a surefire Oscar winner if the world ever knew it
A Kashmiri boy deserves a chance to delve into the world of literature and be the greatest poet we ever knew
A Native girl in Canada deserves to find out she’s an amazing swimmer and fulfill her dream of one day competing in the Olympics
A Sudani boy deserves to feel the excitement of seeing a magic trick for the first time and then putting on his own little magic show for the neighborhood
An Egyptian girl deserves to find out she can make the best blueberry muffins you ever tasted and she opens her own bakery to discover she’s a talented businesswoman as well
A black boy in America deserves the chance to graduate from his dream law school and become the best humanitarian lawyer to practice
A Nigerian boy deserves the chance to wake up at dawn and go on a beach trip with his friends so they can catch the sunrise and stare in awe at the explosion of colours against the sky
A Yemeni girl deserves to feel the exhaustion after spending an entire day doing dares with her friends and she goes to sleep with a smile on her face
If they were born on this planet, they were meant to be here. Everyone deserves a chance at a life. They deserve to know peace.
The daily struggles of the children around the world should include arguing with their parents about not wearing a sweater because it’s not that cold out, not making sure they live to see another day.
Everyone deserves a chance at life.
Do what you can to save humanity. Change starts with you.
