SCARS
The wounds caused by cruelty
Of children to children
Create scars that last a lifetime.
I know - I still remember
Thirty-three years later.
How can a child exhibit
Utter innocence at one time
And calculate malice at another?
Where does the cruelty come from?
Is it inherent?
If so, can it be tempered?
Is it learned?
If so, can it be eliminated?
It's hard for children to endure
The wounds of humiliation.
It's hard for parents to help,
Since they frequently don't know.
Kids are too embarrassed to tell.
They often think they deserve what happened.
Thirty-three years have passed,
But I still haven't told my parents.
In junior high school I tried out for cheerleading;
I had been a cheerleader before.
For some reason - I never knew why -
The student body picked the cheerleaders that year.
For some reason - I never knew why -
The student body jeered me off the floor.
For some reason - I never knew why -
Some students asked, "Were you surprised by what happened?"
For some reason - I never knew why -
They laughed in my face as I choked back the tears.
For some reason - I never knew why -
I was too humiliated to tell my family.
I guess I thought they'd eventually find out -
Everyone else knew.
I'm sure everyone else soon forgot the incident -
But I didn't.
I'm sure everyone else thought it had been a joke -
But I didn't.
I'm sure no one else remembers the story -
But I do.
I learned from the humiliation
To try never to humiliate anyone.
I learned from the hostility
To try never to hate anyone.
I learned from the public jeering
To try never to publicly embarrass anyone.
Maybe the incident helped to develop character;
Maybe it's made me more sensitive;
Maybe I'm better off because it happened.
I didn't think so at the time.
What child could?
TEARS
Black wall
Tapered at the
Ends
White letters
Spelling names of
Friends
Lost lives
Crushed spirits
All
Vietnam
Our generation's
War.
You volunteered
For rain-swept
Land
I cried
And failed to
Understand
Why fight
This war - it isn't
Ours
Why risk
Your life - it now is
Mine.
Orders spared you
From the jungle
War
You did not face
The strife, monsoons and
Gore.
We stand now
At this wall of
Pain
Its blackness
Fills me as a
Void
Its starkness
Strips me
Raw
I cannot hide
Emotions rising from my
Soul.
With salty eyes
We find the names of
Death
We trace white letters
Fallen heroes, finally lifted
Up
We weep
But tears are not the
Same
You cry
For those who died
I cry
Relieved white letters
Do not spell
Your name.
Praise the LORD
Greetings all christian friends come and partnership with us let us glorify His name here in India. Pastor Paul
ajmithra (8)
servant (8)
English (US) 
