We. (#LaterHaters)

We.

Dear Bullies,
I'm okay. I'm okay, and you're ok. We're ok. But, of course, there is no we. So we're not ok, only you. Because I'm different. Because I'm black or because I have two moms. Because I'm different I'm stupid, or I'm dumb. Because maybe I weigh a good twenty more pounds than you or don't wear a new dress on the first day of school. Because I don't belong, you get to say mean things about me. You get to pick on me, you get to hit me and shove me, and everyday you get to come up with new ways to hurt me. But none of that matters because I'm ok. I'm ok because you make me ok. Not because I want to be. You force me to hide this part of me that makes me who I am and makes me special. You force me to shove down and lock away in this little corner of my mind the very thing that shapes my whole life and everything I am. And so, I am nothing. I am nothing and the world is nothing. To me, you are nothing. My friends are nothing, they are no longer anything to me. Just like you. Everything is nothing and nothing is everything.
School is a safe place. Or at least, it was. Now I hide under my covers each morning dreading the moment I step through those doors into a living nightmare. You've turned everyone against me, everything against me. Even I have turned against me. I don't know why but I am, I am against me. Peer pressure, we're against me. But once again, there is no we. So you and I are against me. How do I know that I am against me? If I'm not smart enough or I'm too fat to know that two plus two equals six but only when you add another two then how am I smart enough to know who I am? Oh right, I don't. I don't know who I am because only you do. You, who's not even me. But then again, I am not even me. Nor am I you.
I'm spinning. My mind is racing. Think about it for a second. Before you act, think. Still spinning. Going round and around. What are the reasons? McDonalds might be a once awhile treat for you but maybe it's every day for me. Maybe my father just died and we lost our house. Racing, the world is racing. But then again, no we. Just you, and I. We spin, we walk, we pass each other blindly, stepping over those who we must cross to go farther and be better. I am better because I am strong. I will reach that light not because I pick on the trans kid or the disabled kid but because I am me and you are you. Together, I and you are we and so is he and she. We are powerful.

Sincerely, We.