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I SHALL NOT STAND ASHAMED
My people, they wear trousers at stomach level and walk with tobacco pipes sticking out their mouth. Their children walk around with big bellies yearning for a de-worming session and in oversize baby clothes. Their wives strut around in big black rubber shoes and long dresses sweeping the ground and the old men, they have refused to adapt to the new age. They still walk about in dirty blankets and walking sticks carved by their great grandfathers. My people value their wisdom and the knowledge of the old but those who don’t understand it term it backward and mediocre. They respect their elders and obey their parents. They love their siblings and play with the little children. They have been taught to live and to love and though there isn’t plenty, they have been taught to be satisfied with the little they can glean from the giant pot of nothingness.
My people, they have taught me to take pride in my heritage and to smile through prejudice and emotional turmoil. They have taught me to fight instead of sitting down on the ground and crying. Those children with big, diseased stomachs have taught me to be resilient no matter what. Their lives have been my inspiration, their lack of care my motivation. My people are those who are kept alive not by abundance but attitude. I shall not stand ashamed of my people.
My people, they have taught me to believe everything will be right even when it clearly isn’t. The women with their long dresses go to church all spruced up despite the fact they hadn’t any good to eat for breakfast. They have taught me not to show hurt but rather repress and live the day as it comes. From those people stuck in the old i have learned to reconcile my past with the present. They have taught me to believe that every day above ground is better than below it. I shall not stand ashamed of my people.

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