Shared by Larry Robinson today and then by Amy Elizabeth Robinson. Deserving of another share.

I get up
by Cleo Wade

(I don’t always want to)
I’m tired
I am run down
My thoughts run me down
The news runs me down
My country runs me down
Our history runs me down
But
Something pulls me from the safety of my sheets
Puts me in the shower
Dresses me and says
Show up
Sometimes I show up
Because Heather Heyer can’t
Sometimes I show up because
Anita Hill’s testimony still sends chills down my spine, because my friend who is a DREAMER is living in a constant state of fear, or because there are thousands of Puerto Rican Americans who have lost everything and are still living in darkness. dresses for women over 40
Sometimes I get up,
Because I’m tired of wondering why there are so many people who should not have a gun but
have a gun
Sometimes I get up
Because I know that equal pay for equal work does not exist.
And when I see that 1 in 4 black people in Florida cannot vote, it is clear to me that equal voting rights do not exist either.
Sometimes I get up
Because the land of the free is locking millions of human beings in cages, shackling women during childbirth, and putting our children in solitary confinement.
Sometimes I get up because
I know that Nazis are planning to march again, because Flint still has no clean drinking water.
Sometimes I get up
Because I know that 40 percent of our homeless population are LGBTQ youths and there is something wrong with that.
Sometimes I get up
Because I don’t want to have to teach my children how to do nuclear bomb drills, or what to wear to avoid sexual harassment or how to behave to avoid a “justifiable shooting” by the police.
Sometimes I get up
Because I hugged Trayvon Martin’s mother last year and told her I would keep going.
And sometimes I get up because I remember the time I read the Coretta Scott King line that said,
“Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.”
So I show up
Some days I am only able to show up for myself when I close my eyes and say,
“Breathe. You are are worthy. You can do this. And you will be okay.”
And on the days when I can do more …
I do more
I listen more
I learn more
I give more of my time.
I give more of my dollars.
I give more of my heart.
I give more spirit.
I give more of my …
Self
Because
To not show up
To stay silent
To do nothing
Is to tell the world that I think it is fine the way it is
And I do not think the world is fine the way it is