I am blessed with an overflowing cup,
Filled to its brim with life force that fills me:
With energy and inquisitiveness
Taking me and my ideas forward.
While I may doubt my own superpowers,
I am privileged to be rarely challenged.
But I look around at colleagues and friends
Who are not white, straight, and cis-gendered men
With their familiar religious beliefs
For whom society has been arranged—
And I see struggles to just be themselves.
Even for those with overflowing cups,
So much life force is spilled concentrating,
Accommodating insecurities
Of those who appear in society
To look like ancestors who helped set norms.
After the life force is spilled form the cup,
Splattered over walls and floors and sidewalks,
Those from groups with less or zero privilege
Find exhaustion in the experience
To be just who they are just where they are.
To be wholly, unconditionally
The person each of them was meant to be.
The result may also be frustration
Leading to anger and sometimes despair.
Spilled life force can be creativity,
But more often than not, the spilled life force
Siphons off potential gifts for the world.
-by Kevin Frick (2021-05-17)
