“The World with You in It” (A Message for YOU)

(The “Angel of Wonder” from Kristie Hankins’s Collection)

Twice this weekend, I have been in a conversation regarding a young person who made the ultimate decision to end their life as a result of a bullying scenario. One was up close and personal and I had an opportunity to share a moment with the friend who was processing the news that was. . .brand new. . .and the term “breaking news” never seemed more literal. A heart was breaking–on the spot.

The other came in the form of an email from a colleague and friend. And while that scenario is still playing out, there is a community in grief over the loss of a student. . .a classmate. . .a member of a learning community.

And while I cannot substantiate one story on the basis of what was said and who said it, I can share that one story involved a message that might have sounded like, “The world would be a better place without you in it.”

I’d like to respond to that comment for a moment if you’d permit me. I don’t know to whom I should address my remarks, so I am sending this to YOU. Yes, YOU.

A video version of the piece appears at the bottom of the post to share.

 

Because I want you

to know the world

is a better place

with you in it.

 

I can tell you this

because I used to think

that the world could be

shrunken down into

a very small place

with only me

or maybe without me.

 

I used to draw all of myself

into my body, arms hanging

straight down my sides

as if I had been staked

into place and the only

way to withstand

the words and the winds

was to hold some position

if only temporarily

 

or

 

maybe I thought by standing

in one true place, God would

find me in that one place

like a some sort of mall map

that would read:

 

“I am here

and I seem

to have lost myself

along the way.”

 

This is a small space

to be sure, the kind of place

that might be marked

by a golden star,

but these never stick

 

to the tops of desks

to the walls of a bathroom stall

to a the metal of a locker door

or the mettle of a Facebook wall.

 

Oh, and while we are

talking about this world,

(the world that is better because you are in it)

this is your gold star.

 

I think you must have lost this

when you heard–

from an uninformed source–

that this world

would be better off without you.

 

No doubt you had thought

it to have lost its ability to shine,

or you might have kept it safety-pinned

to your chest or at least

you’d have kept it in your pocket

to rub now and then with

your thumb and forefinger

as you walked along in a world

that is better

with you in it.

 

I will bring this back to you,

because I learned to look for stars,

the kind you might see on a clear night

or the kind you might find on a darker day.

 

As beautiful as they are sprinkled

across a clear night, we can call

to them harshly and cruelly and sometimes

they fall, scattered like so much glitter

mixed into the sawdust of some

sideshow where we were cast

as the curiosities, the oddities,

the outcasts.

 

But I cannot hold your star

for you. We are allotted one each

to wear and to maintain.

 

So, let’s put some shine

back upon this star, shall we?

Because the world is better place

with you in it,

and we’ll want you to shine.

 

Now, watch please, friend,

because I have picked up a thing or two

as I have run in between the trailers

and these tricks are not listed

upon the bills nailed to fences

or painted on mass-produced posters

or on the flyers hung on doorknobs.

 

No, these are the words

that will make a place for you

in this world that you can immediately

recognize should we lose each other

somehow again.

 

Words.

 

Magic words.

 

YOU are important.

YOU are loved.

There is no other like YOU.

The world is a better place because you are in it.

 

Now that you have heard me

speak these words, the real magic

is within their ability

to take on even more power when you speak

them yourself. . .like this:

 

I am important.

I am loved.

There is no other person like me.

The world is a better place because I am in it.

 

So, while we re-affix this star

to its rightful place upon you,

let’s talk about this world–

the world in which we live–

this world that is so much

the better because

you are in it.

 

I have found that standing like a dart

stuck in the dirt is nothing like standing

holding the hand of someone

who cares about me.

 

That, alone, I was a knot-holed picket,

but with just one other person

I could become a part of a friendly fence

and when we build

these kinds of fences

against the world

(the one that is better with you in it)

we keep the pretty side in.

 

And with the company of two

we are more firmly anchored

in any world

(including the one that is better with you in it)

but especially within this world

a world that would be so different

if you were not a part of it.

 

Look at the map now. . .

do you see it? That star

next to mine? It’s how we know

that we are both here

and the world

is a better place

for this.

 

So, when you are ready,

the stage has been set

for you to shine. It’s already

been foreseen in the stars

that shine down on this small place

in which we find ourselves right now.

 

It may not even be accurate–

alphabetically-speaking–

that we should appear

one name after the other in the ledger,

but I write my name in ink–

right under yours–

to let the world know

that we were here in this moment

in the same place.

 

Our place.

 

In this great big world.

 

A world

that is a better place

because you and I

are in it.

 

Your friend you knew (and maybe you didn’t know),

 

Shrug.

 

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