It’s About the Choice

 

They do not choose

To be born to parents unable to be parents

They do not choose

To be ignored, beaten, or thrown away

They do not choose

To be touched by adults in ways that only adults should be touched

They do not choose

To witness their mother sell her body to buy the drugs she craves

They do not choose

For their father to turn away from them even before they were born

They do not choose

The judge who ordered them to leave their family taking nothing with them

They do not choose

The strangers that take them in, in the middle of the night

They do not choose

To be the new kid in school over and over again

They do not choose

To lose their brothers and sisters because they can’t be placed together

They do not choose

The new people that they are supposed to call brother and sister, mom and dad

They do not choose

To be Angry, to act out, to be rebellious, they just are

They do not choose

To grieve for all the losses in their lives by no fault of their own

 

So I choose

I choose them to listen to

When they cry themselves to sleep night after night

I choose them to love

When they are unable to love me back

I choose them to stay

When all they want is to push me away

I choose them to be honest

Telling them the truth always so they can learn to trust

I choose them just as they are

Knowing that it is my job not theirs to be the grown up

I choose them to be my own

To be my heart, my pain, my joy, so that they can choose

They can choose to heal

They can choose to love

They can choose their OWN future

 

Tina Aquino