by Layla Ingwerson, Los Angeles, CA
A girl asked me
While flicking her highlighted hair
And smacking her gum
As though it didn't really matter to her in the least:
"Why do you talk to them?"
Her voice was smooth
Her face confidant
As though assured through countless calls from football players and basketball stars
That she was in essence
The Queen Of The Universe
Ms. American Princess
Never wrong.
"Why do you talk to them?"
She batted mascaraed eyes at my friends
Asking with the most amount of disgust she could muster through an unruffled tone.
"You know, the freaks. Those fat twins, the Spider-Man boy, the weirdo and that guy with ADD?"
And I had to wonder,
Does your mind really work that way?
When you look at my friends, do you think, 'Oh, look, the fat twins, the boy obsessed with Spider-Man, the weirdo, and that guy with ADD?'
Doesn't that seem at all empty-minded to you?
Wouldn't you rather meet them, so you could know the wonderful people that do?
Those 'fat twins'—can't you realize that they're only gentle giants?
Nothing I've ever seen them do
Had half as much poison in it as your expression does now.
And Spider-Man boy? Do you mean John?
Let me tell you something, sister, he's a lot more than just Spider-Man
He's a person, a human being, capable of doing anything—
Although the worst things he's done
Could amount to a fraction of the hurt
That you cause everyday with your cold sneer
And devil-may-care attitude
Oh, the weirdo?
I like him.
You say 'weird', I say 'eccentric'—and 'sweet' and 'caring', and 'sincere'
But I guess 'weirdo' does for you.
Yeah, one of my friends has ADD
Actually, I looked up Attention Defecit Disorder in the dictionary,
And it's funny
'Cus nowhere does Mr. Webster say
That people afflicted with ADD
Don't have feelings
And can't be amazing all the same.
But you don't want to talk to them.
Why?
Because you're a higher life form?
Because you can't afford to mingle with commoners
Or be seen acting—gasp, horror of horrors—nice?
This is what I have to say.
I don't talk to any fat twins.
I don't talk to quote-unquote 'Spider-Man boy'
I don't talk to weirdos or that guy with ADD
I talk to my friends.
And that's how I think of them.
But, wait, before you go—
They're having a sale on Humanity at the mall
It's 100% off.
Maybe if you make it
Without breaking a nail
You can get some.
Reprinted with the generous permission of tolerance.org. Tolerance.org, a program of the Southern Poverty Law Center, is a principal online destination for people interested in dismantling bigotry and creating, in its stead, communities that value diversity. Its Mix It Up project believes in the power of youth to create and sustain real change.