To Change My World

Jayden Lizardo

To walk in my shoes is not to know if it’s a gunshot coming for you or a celebratory firework. To walk in my shoes is to feel like the trash people toss away and abandon, scared of losing someone you love deeply.

To walk in my shoes is to hear the cars beeping at each other, everyone trying to make a move but everyone’s stuck. A maze you cannot get out of.

To walk in my shoes is to feel fear, not knowing if the next minute I’ll see darkness. To walk in my shoes is to wonder if I’ll be blamed and innocent inside of a cop car. To walk in my shoes is to exist in a world where the social contract is broken for people who look like you.

To walk in my shoes is to learn about Nat Turner, wondering if time will rewind, wondering if I’ll be the next “Say his name.”

To walk in my shoes is to know that people are fighting and striking for rights and to stay alive. To walk in my shoes is to know that my parents’ blood, sweat, and tears ensure I’m well and fed.

Despite all the negativity, to walk in my shoes is to feel happiness and love. To care about and be cared for.

To walk in my shoes is to make the people I love proud. To succeed where I should fail.

To walk in my shoes is to change someone’s mindset, to change my world.