Monday

I hear small children talk about wanting more, I see them playing on the road, kicking a ball, the girls at the end of my street are unable to go to school because their dad has no lunch for them, the small aboriginal boy lags behind his mother who swears at him obscenely and tells him to hurry up. I hear people tell them you can still be what you want to be, but when there is no one to guide you through the darkness everyday and you're still just a baby then how can you escape the swamp? They can't do it on their own. I want to tell them it will be ok, but I can make no guarantee's, I want to grab their little hands and give them all the things they need. I want to say I understand, that it sucks and i'm sorry for the card they've been dealt. But I don't. I was once like them, playing in the complex, stealing food to eat, waiting for mums next pension, waiting in line. Housing commission. Centrelink. I was once like them...but now i'm me, and I'm ok. So maybe they can be too. I'm not hurt or afraid, noone harms me, I have people who love me and they can have that too, they need to demand it and settle for nothing less. I want to say although i'll never forget where I came from, I will never let it define me. We are not our past. I just wish a young mind could understand that. I wish they knew how powerful they can be.