IMAGE~

How often do you think about your image,
What you project,
How the world sees you?
I was once consumed with what the world saw when they saw me,
Not my looks,
But did they see who I was,
Wondered if they just saw a tall, Black girl,
Or is they could see a heart that pumped blood,
And worried far too much about the state of the world and her family,
Did they see me as some kind of statistic,
Based on their own assumptions because of what they thought they knew,
Or did they see someone who had always strived to do well in school,
Be as good as she could at whatever she did,
Had been working and paying taxes since she was thirteen,
Whew that was a lot of work,
But the older I got,
The less I thought about what those around me thought,
And just focused on being the best me I could be,
I am still startled when I hear someone describe me,
Realizing that I had been so caught up in living my life,
That I hadn’t thought much about it,
Last night I was telling my husband how excited,
Jennifer, Darnetta and Shae was about their stories being published,
In WOMEN’S WRITES
And he told me it was a big deal,
To have done it,
God as my witness,
I never saw it as that,
I just knew and loved these girls,
And wanted to do something for all of us that would be reflective of that and how,
I felt about them,
He smiled at me in some kind of way,
A bone melting (for me) loving way,
But I digress,
I am not even sure where I am going with this,
But suffice it to say that years ago,
I knew that what the world saw and responded to was what I put out there,
And I made a determination at a certain point,
To offer the best I had,
I fall short all the time,
But each time I try to do it again,
And BLESSEDLY,
It is not about any kind of IMAGE at all,
It’s just me being glad to be here and in the mix,
And grateful for what I have been given…
And willing in whatever small way to give a bit of it away…
To GOD be the Glory….

Angelia
www.womenwrites.blogspot.com