If I Were in Charge of the World

If I were in charge of the world no one would be in need.

There would be no hungry mouths to feed.

Horses would be able to fly.

No one would ever tell a lie.

Endangered animals would not be hurt.

No one would be allowed to flirt.

There would be no drugs, no alcohol.

So no one would ever take a fall.

Everyone would always have fun,

Without being in a gang or shooting a gun.

There would be no hate, just love and trust.

The world would be free, that is...

If I were in charge.

In the fifth grade I was given an assignment to write a poem. My whole class was given the same title to begin with - "If I Were in Charge of the World". The above poem is what I wrote and from that moment on I never stopped writing. In my younger years my poetry was so positive and uplifiting it seems. I was such a naive girl with a pure and honest heart. Don't get me wrong... I am still honest, somewhat naive, but not so pure.

Growing up I felt so isolated from other children. I struggled to make friends and felt very insecure about myself. I did not realize until recently that it was very likely due to my extreme level of empathy. To be honest, I never really grasped the concept of empathy until about 5 years ago. So as a child (a very naive one to boot) it unknowingly made life difficult.

As a young teenager I experienced death for the first time, the death of a very close family member. I was never taught about death and I was never taken to counseling. I just continued my childhood which quickly led to adulthood. I never really knew how to cope with my feelings so I wrote them in poetic form. Before experiencing death for the first time, I spoke mainly of frinedship through my poetry. But then, the main topic of my poetry changed to that of death, but in a spiritual way.

Why my fifth grade teacher wanted us to write about what we 11 and 12 year olds would do if we were in charge of the world... I will never know. But I will forever be grateful that she did because it opened something up inside of me and eventually gave me an outlet to express my emotional pain. And I must admit... if I were in charge of the world, even as an adult, I would still have things as written above!