Difference - Hannah Jackson (leveled readers .txt) 📗

Think

 

If you’re feeling lost

or blue

or grey or green,

take a moment for yourself

to stop and think

about what you want.

Not about a present

for an upcoming party,

or that thing you have

to remind your mom.

Think about you.

Think about where you want to go

and how to get there.

Forget about your job.

That job with the crummy pay,

the cramped office,

the annoying coworkers.

Forget about the past,

that bad haircut

that awful ex

that terrible mistake.

And think about now.

Get inspired.

Go write a book.

Or sing a song.

Or read a poem.

Do what you want to do.

Be what you want to be.

Because you can be anything

you want

to be.

Set some goals,

and achieve them.

Make some dreams.

For every great dream

begins with a dreamer.

Follow your own star.

Be your own star.

Just stop for a moment,

and

think.

Time

 

One second.

You could have:

taken a breath

blinked an eye

beat your heart

given a hug.

In one second.

One minute.

You could have:

Said ‘I Love You’

apologized

forgiven a friend

prayed to God.

In one minute.

One hour.

You could have:

finished a book

written a poem

inspired someone

saved a life.

In one hour.

One month.

You could have:

adopted a child

saved some money

arranged a funeral

Given a job.

In one month.

One year.

You could have:

gotten married

had a family

reconnected with a parent

built a home.

In one year.

A lifetime.

You could have:

Had some dreams.

Achieved some goals.

Inspired millions.

made a difference.

All in a lifetime.

You can never tell

how long

life will last.

Make the most of

every second.

Every minute.

Every hour.

Every month.

Every year.

And every lifetime.

Dreams

 

Whether they’re soaring

or broken,

practical,

or insane,

easy

or complicated,

never let them die.

Because if dreams die,

life is a broken winged bird

that cannot fly.

If your dreams seem broken,

get some glue

and glue them back together.

Your friends

will help.

If they seem insane,

do something even more

insane.

And then they will not seem

so bad.

And if they seem hard,

or complicated,

don’t give up.

Don’t

ever

give up.

Don’t be

that broken winged bird

that cannot fly.

Difference

 

What’s the difference

if the sky is grey and cloudy

or clear and blue?

If the sun is smiling

or burning away?

If the world keeps spinning

or simply ceases to exist?

The difference is the people

who see the stars,

the sky,

the sun.

The difference is all the ones

who need a sanctuary,

who need a rest.

The difference is me.

The one who notices,

who cares.

The one who sees

that every day

could be your last.

The difference is the helpless,

the wounded,

those who need help

to sit up in bed.

The dying.

And the difference is hope.

The ray of sunshine.

The glimmer of truth.

That little sparkle.

The difference

can be you.

Bullets

 

Bullets cut deep,

Tear through your flesh,

and straight into your heart.

Whether it’s a hard lead case,

or words of steel,

Bullets cut deep.

 

So why do we launch them?

The bullets that wound and kill

those we love.

Those others love.

Why do we launch these bullets

at ourselves?

 

For every time we kill

or wound or witness:

we break off a little bit more

of ourselves.

No one ever wins

any time we kill.

 

In this world, we have a web.

A web built of tiny threads.

Each thread is one of us.

So every time we launch

a bullet, we only aid in the harm

of this world that is us.

 

Bullets cut deep.

Lies

 

Lies.

They take advantage

of innocent people.

They cut through

your heart

and soul

like knives.

And when you try

to stop them,

they just keep going

and going

and going.

Like a pack of wolves

that caught the scent

of their prey.

Every lie you tell,

you set up a barrier

around yourself.

The first one

can be broken through,

and you can still

be reached.

The tenth

can be breached

only by the closest

of friends.

But the twentieth

can only be broken through

by you.

If ever you find yourself

hidden under layers

and layers

of lies,

Stop.

Stop lying,

stop taking advantage,

and unwrap yourself

one truth at a time.

Sun or Moon?

 

When the sun rises

from its faraway distance,

is can only see the pain

here on earth.

It sees all the hurt,

the melting glaciers,

the heavy dark clouds

blocking its view.

It can see the volcanoes

erupting smoke

and steam,

and epidemics and plagues,

and the decreasing green

of our forests.

But when the moon comes,

it has a different view.

It’s closer to us,

can see more of us.

It can see our sleeping faces,

with the worry and hurt

erased for the time being.

And it can see the hand

outstretched

to aid our friends

and neighbors.

It can see the rain falling

from those heavy dark clouds

wiping our slate clean.

It sees the next sun rise,

starting the day anew. 

It tends to fade, however,

fade from our view,

and we begin to see

what the sun sees.

The pain.

The hurt.

The epidemics and plagues.

And we skip over that

outstretched helping hand.

But we have the closest view of all.

We can see the sparkle in the eye

of those we help

 

Shit

 

Shit.

Taxes.

Work.

School.

Money.

Gas.

Groceries.

Housework.

Kids.

Marriage.

Shit.

I could go on

and on

and on.

But you know?

None of that

matters.

Who cares

if you had problems

before.

Who cares

if you have

no

idea

what to do?

You’ll get through it.

Because that’s what

you do.

Even when things just seem

like shit.

Shit.

That Girl

 

I talked to that girl

today.

That girl

that no one likes

that sits alone

that just wants

to be

accepted.

She tried to talk

to the popular girls

and they told her

to go

away.

So I invited her

to sit with us.

We talked.

We laughed.

And you know what?

It felt great.

To talk to that girl,

include that girl,

that girl

that no one likes.

You should try it.

Emptiness

 

God sent you

to me

when I was at the peak

of my loneliness.

I prayed for you

I wished for you

I thought you would never come.

But then you did.

You weren’t who I was expecting

you never even occurred to me.

But He answered my prayers.

You weren’t my first choice.

It hurt so many people around me.

I should hate you.

Hate you for making me hurt

my loved ones.

Hate you for hurting me.

Never tell me you love me

unless you mean it –

because I might do something

stupid

like believe it.

But I don’t hate you.

Even though you hurt me,

you saved me.

You saved me from a fate

worse than death.

You filled the void in my heart,

made me believe that I was

worth