Don’t Forget
White Rock, Canada
2020, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
The wave crashes
scraping sand
creeping back
and we start over.
Billions of times
has the sea reached out
and pulled back
fingers of water
grasping at life and death
and now we’re here.
We wonder if the sea
in aching agony
will find its peace again.
We forget
its strength
its power
its life.
We forget
our strength
our power
our life.
Together
we are a force
strong enough to overcome
to find peace
to live.
The wave crashes
scraping sand
creeping back
and we start over.
Reflection
So many calls towards climate action use fear to spark action. I believe that this only makes people feel helpless and does not do much to inspire them. A message that outlines the facts and solutions is important. Using a hopeful tone, though, turns it into something that people actually want to act on. If all the messages that I hear about climate change are negative, I feel defeated and barely see a reason to help, if everything I try to do is futile. Encouraging messages, showing the progress that we have made, and hope for the future inspire me to work towards greater change.