I Want to Change the World | a poem

I am someone who has always looked for the positive in every situation. I appreciate the little things

in life, small moments that show there is still goodness left in the world despite all the terrible things we are bombarded with in the news. However, recently everything has been getting on top of me a bit and the current stories plastered all over newspapers and social media and the TV can just be really overwhelming. It can lead us to feel helpless, the fact that there are people out there suffering and there’s nothing we can do about it.

Nevertheless, over the past few days I have taken a step back from social media. I have been taking a small break from twitter and it has actually done me so much good. Social media blows a lot of things out of proportion. I’m not saying everything in the world is peachy, of course it’s far from it. But on twitter and facebook, everyone can have an opinion. You have to choose what influences your thinking and what doesn’t.

There’s an advert on TV at the moment for Vision Express, in which Trevor McDonald talks about all the things he has seen over his time as a news reader, yet despite everything, he has seen ‘the infinite resilience of the human spirit’. I love this phrase; it shows that no matter what hardships we and the world are faced with, we find a way to get through it. It might seem like everything is terrible in the news at the moment, but the truth is there has always, and unfortunately always will be, suffering in the world. It’s the way we deal with it that matters. The world has been through a hell of a lot due to our existence, and somehow humanity has always overcome it.

I realise that was a lot of rambling, but I just wanted to set up the background to why I wrote this poem. I needed an outlet for my fears and anxieties about the world at the moment, but also wanted to show that we can get through it.

So, here you go. Hope you enjoy and perhaps relate to it.

She sits cross-legged on her bed,

refreshing BBC News

for the thousandth time,

sweating palms cling to her phone

as her heart races,

bombarded with stories

of hatred and despair.

She fears turning on the radio

to ‘bomb blast kills forty-five’,

‘shooting in Florida nightclub’.

She can’t switch the thoughts off

like the stereo.

Like a horror movie, she’s terrified

but she has a curious longing

to know how it ends.

They tell her ‘don’t look!’–

but it’s too late, eyes transfixed

on the devastating spectacle

in front of her.

When reality is more surreal

than fiction,

where do we turn?

She knows there is beauty

out there – the rolling hills,

the raging rivers,

sunsets over sun-kissed beaches.

Laughing so hard

tears roll down flushed cheeks,

children’s’ smiles,

the warmth in your heart

when you make someone’s day.

I want to change the world.

I don’t want to live in fear.

There is hope in unity,

and in all of us a light

that cannot be extinguished.

In all our hearts a faith

that justice will shine through.

For the world doesn’t need

to change, the people do.

I hope this poem gives you a little hope if you feel the same as me towards the current goings on in the world. Poetry is my outlet for all my feelings and I hope to bring positivity to anyone who needs it. Just remember that there are still so many good things and people in the world, no matter what the media wants us to believe, and love will win in the end.

Let me know in the comments what you think of this poem and whether you want me to keep posting my poetry on the blog! I’d love to hear from you.

Lots of love and thank you so much for reading, x