Once upon a time,
There lived a girl who was bubbling with emotions and strong opinions.
Wherever she looked, and she looked hard,
Nobody really seemed to understand why she seemed to feel as strongly as she did.
They always seemed to see her as a rebel without a cause.
The girl however always said one day, you shall see, why the battle is never over!
All she wanted was for somebody to look at her and say
Yes! I too have felt this way.
I too have yearned for the day when we all walk equal
unfettered by the shackles of societal expectations,
I too have felt enraged at the injustice of it all,
where one can't love who they truly want to love,
one can't be who they really want to be.
I understand the battle is never over!
She decided reality was unfair,
it was complacent in everyone's despair
So she turned to something bigger, something more idealistic
where no matter how big the struggle, the ending would always end up happy
The media showed her all kinds of stories, some joyful, some mischievous, some tranquil, and yes, some even inspiring
But even then she saw that the battle is never over!
Wait, said the girl
This is much too devoid!
Devoid of what? said everyone rolling their eyes
devoid of color, devoid of femininity, devoid of different class, devoid of diversity!
Enough! they said
You have talked enough.
These things don't matter in the larger scheme of things.
You are wrong, the girl thought to herself. The battle is never over!
She wondered what the larger scheme of things meant.
Did the larger scheme entail swallowing frustration,
turning your frown upside down into a forced grimace
keeping your lips shut until you barely remember to form the words anymore
feeling a piping hot lump of....something in your throat
something you can't put into words
until you remember that your frustration has been there all along.
The girl clenched her fists and reminded herself, the battle is never over!
The girl thus shook her head and proudly claimed
I shall talk, I shall walk and I shall stand up
But why? They persisted. Aren't things better now?
Because, the girl said resolute
the battle is never over.
Years later, with chaos and anarchy all around
They come to her in tears
you were right, they say. these things matter.
Our voice matters. What do we do?
The battle is lost and we are doomed.
No we are not, the girl says, still resolute
if you had only paid heed to my message true
you would know that the battle is never over!
But what do we do? The people cried out.
Speak, scream and shout?
The girl smiled in irony.
When the waters around you are still, you talk to create ripples of change.
But when the waters around you are raging, you act fast.
You lend a hand to those around, you see the humanity that was always there all along.
You see the underdog as they are stomped on by the top dog
and for once, you stand up for what is right.
For once you see that just because things seem fine doesn't mean that's how they're meant to be.
Treat everyone the way you'd treat yourself and even when things finally become alright
remind yourself: THE BATTLE IS NEVER OVER.
