Consider this : be loud and fierce and wild

I want you to use your voice. I want you to yell and scream and run and jump and use every bit of energy you have to race around the block, banging on drums and cymbals, car hoods and trunks, neighbors’ doors, the bells on bikes, tree stumps, and trashcans. I want you to be loud and fierce and wild, unable to be tamed, eager for knowledge and bloodthirsty for revenge. I want you to slip and slide, get wet in fountains and sprinklers, splash with all your might, and then get back to screaming for justice, for your momma, for another piece of pie, for a world that’s being raped by ignorance and intolerance. I want you to take a stand, find your place, claim an area, and rope off what’s yours. I want to know that every bit of power you were born with has been harnessed and is in full use so that when you need strength, you won’t have to rely on your reserves. You can be sliced neat as bread, stacked like overdue paperwork and library books, but I want to hear your voice and your machinations. I want you dressed in liberty with a grey smile and a flaming torch. Don’t let anyone stand on you. You are special and unique and there is no one like you and believe me, little girl, that is a good thing. You will meet people who will want you to shrink back so that they can step into the spotlight and claim all the warmth. Don’t let them. Move forward, take the light, accept the applause, understand how brilliant you are. People will inevitably say mean things to you or about you; don’t suck those things under your skin and try to make sense of them. Don’t be afraid to grab a megaphone and let the world know you exist. Bust forth, make demands, speak up, don’t shy down. You don’t owe the world an apology for anything and don’t you EVER forget it.

-Chi Sherman