Choose

Choose
By Zoë Schippers

Lighter skin.
Less shut eye.
More time to think
And less time to fathom
Who could have known? if it were not metaphorically written in the stars.
Or if it were not its true self when it was already amongst us
Slowly making its way through the systems of those who were not strong enough to counterattack its supremacy.
Was it us? Was it our unappreciative nature as human beings? Was that the cause?
Who knew numbers held so much weight, and that it had the ability to supress something that was living?
Who knew it had the ability to supress...
us
 I mean an abstract that was said not to mean anything without contentment?
But you see, these numbers, this abstract, it did not determine the worth of an inanimate object, no.
This abstract, it determined whether you lived, or you died, whether you will in fact get to see all that fuss about the light at the end of this so called “tunnel”
Some say instead of asking ourselves what was the cause we should ask, what was the drive?
So that we could step out of a routine we assumed we were placed here to follow, so that we learn to value ourselves and those that surround us?
We can all choose to see it the way we want , for self-love, for personal growth, for punishment, for lighter skin, for less shut eye, for more time to think or for less time to fathom, but this…
where we find ourselves now, is amid a two-way street, where if you turn to your right you will see a road that leads to healing
and if you turn to your left you will see one that leads to subjugation.
Now, choose.