To my friends
Who strive to be
Better than you were
Yesterday
I want you to know that
I see you
And I appreciate you
At times, I have been wrong;
Many, many, many times,
I have been
Wrong
On a few occasions, I have been the bad guy
Out of fear, I did things I wasn’t proud of;
Things I’m deeply ashamed of,
Things I hold myself accountable for,
So I don’t do them again
Sometimes, out of frustration,
I was lazy, apathetic, etc.
But I haven’t allowed myself to stay stuck,
Mired in those states indefinitely
I have not been a troll,
Picking fights for the sake of fighting
I ask myself, “Which part of my beliefs
“Are based on shoddy thinking?”
I ask myself, “In what ways have I been
“Less than kind, greedy, or negative?”
And many of you
Have been the inspirations
For my wanting to be
Better than I was
Even when I failed,
Your examples still served
As valuable anchor points
For me to get up and
Try again
I have kept a mental list
Of my friends and acquaintances
Who strive to be
Simultaneously
Excellent and kind
I want you to know that
I see you
And I appreciate you
I know you do your best
To hear both sides
Of important discussions
I know you read books and articles
I know you seek information that is
Outside of your usual echo chambers
To help you be well-informed and
As unbiased as possible
I know you become discouraged,
The same way I do,
When you see the stupid things
That people post, say, and defend
Things so easy to disprove
It’s ridiculous,
And yet, they stick to their beliefs
Like glue
I know you, too,
Throw up in your mouth a little
When people display
An unshakeable belief of,
“My feelings are just as valid as your facts.”
Feelings are a thing
They have many of,
And most of them are
Completely out of proportion
With the reality of the various situations
And facts are things that
They only have a scant few of
I know that many of you have
A vast education under your belts
Some of you are writers or educators
Some of you are scientists or musicians
Some of you are entrepreneurs
Some of you are esotericists
Or mathematicians
Or you are in mental health
Or you work in any of
Dozens of other areas that all require
Brains, determination, and a
Delicate balance of empathy and
Fearlessness
Whatever you do, I take note of how
You have an excellent understanding
Regarding your particular fields of study
Some of you have a Bachelor’s degree;
Others have a Master’s or Doctorate;
Some only have an Associate’s;
Some of you barely finished high school,
Or you got a GED,
Or you dropped out
But even those who dropped out
Have more of a
School of Hard Knocks education
Than some who have Master’s degrees
What you all have in common is that
You don’t hide behind
Your credentials
You mention them only when
It’s essential to do so
You didn’t stop learning
At no point did you decide that
You had “arrived,” or that you
Could no longer learn something
From someone half your age
At no time did you conclude that you are
Wiser, more intelligent, or more righteous
Than anyone else
Because
You aren’t competing
With anyone else;
Only with yourself
I see that quality in you
And I humbly bow
To that aspect
Of your nature
I see most people barking at each other
From places of fear, bitter hatred,
Ignorance that refuses to be corrected,
And from places of privilege;
People who cannot or will not
Show compassion for those
Who did not have the same advantages
And then, I see YOU
And the difference between
You and them is like
Night and day
You quietly go about your lives
Being friendly, but
Standing up for yourselves
And for others
More importantly,
You do it without any pretentiousness,
No “holier than thou” attitude
And I gotta say,
You fuckin’ rock.
I see you apologize
When you were rude,
Without habitually
Repeating the offense
I see you admitting when
You didn’t know something,
And graciously thanking someone for
Politely educating you about it
I also quietly assign you cool points
When some vulgar troll tries to
Rudely school you
Or assassinate your character
And you smack them down,
Put them in their place,
Without stooping
To their level
Some of you do this by
Sticking to the facts,
Some of you just block them,
And some of you utilize your
Wicked, rapier wit to
Eviscerate them
And I smile
And yes, there are many things that
I’m incorrect about,
And many of you are
Much more knowledgeable
In these areas than I am
And there are a few things
That I know more about
Than you do
But we
Give each other
Respect
Because
We both know in our hearts that
Each of us
Is sincerely trying
Much harder to
BE RIGHT
Than to merely
Appear right
I appreciate the times when you
Are patient with my stupidities,
Of which I have many
I appreciate the times
When you could have
Decimated me in an argument
Because I didn’t know
What the hell I was talking about
But you didn’t ridicule me,
You just pulled me aside and
Politely shared some
Of your wisdom with me
I see the “average” people
Who are genuinely well below
What average used to be
And they want to be rewarded
For their mediocrity
Then, I see YOU
Sharing your excellence,
Your experience, your humor,
Your charm, your skill, and your kindness
And you ask nothing
In return
I see you
And you
Keep me
Going
©2024 Kevin Trent Boswell
Kevin Trent Boswell 