Poetic License on a Reflection Paper

What I Know Now

Is it selfish?

to say

“

  I’d rather study myself than any other person on this planet?

”

Does it make sense if I convince you

That studying others is really the same?
Can I persuade you to believe that the

whole world is a

   lens, a reflecting

     pool, a refracting light scheme

       on in the inner

           the self

     the other above and the

you below

and in learning of others,

we mostly learn of ourselves      ?

This is true, you see, because

When I’m studying you,

I’m studying me

How I react and how I read

And what all those words mean to me

But why, you ask, do I continue

To study me and

instead of you?

Because I control me and the things

I see and the things

I do shape the world around

Me, just as yours do.

To be a better me,

I must study other

use

So I sat down in this class to read about a Justice

And I read

and we talked

and I learned a lot

but what I know now

    is not how much work Sonia Sotomayor put into her dreams

it is not how life can be difficult for a Latina

it is not how much the world of diabetes has changed through modern medicine and

it is not why you should bother to read her book or take this class

what I know now

is that I have dreams that are

                B I G G E R

                than I knew, and they are

valid.

 

is that my life is really difficult, but that

does not mean it is not worth living

is that the world is changing all around me

right now

and if I don’t pay attention,

I’ll miss out

is that I should bother to get out of bed every day and put on clean clothes

is that I should bother to go to work and be proud of a job well done

is that I should bother to put on a smile and do something to make me and you a little bit happier today

is that I should bother to change the world.