“History / is not / the past. // It is the present. // We carry history / with us. // We are / our history.” // In other words: // You're a product / of your environment. // Now that term / is usually / relegated / to people / from low-income, / crime-infested areas… / but why? // We are all / a product / of our / environment. // Your existence / is an amalgamation / of every triumph, / every hard-won battle, / every woman / who had an idea / and massaged it, / and had the courage / to use it / to change the world. // Every person / who survived slavery, / Jim Crow / and the black codes, / to the Trail of Tears, / wars… / and passed their dreams / on to you / —of love, / of hate. // Yup, / you are also / the product / of the other: // Of silence, / of apathy, / a school / built on stolen ground. // Of women, // a parent, / grandparent, / ancestor / who suppressed dreams / and ideas, / who died / with lost potential / and horrific memories / of sexual assault, / mental illness, / who didn't feel / good enough, / or pretty enough / or / ENOUGH. / Even your anxiety / is part of your history… / and yet / here you are. // Privileged, / blessed… / to do… / what? // There are two roads / that I see / that people usually take: // The choice to think / that your path / is all about you / and your success, / how high / you can climb in your career / and your status. // Or, the so-called / “save the world” approach, / where you have a vision / for the world / and, by God, / you will change it / because you're different. // The first road / requires you to mistake / your presence / for the event, / to be in / complete denial; / and, the second / requires you / only to deny / the really bad stuff. // It requires you to / forget racism, / not see color, / intersectionality, / poverty… / “but maybe / I'll take the sexism / because it pertains / to me.” // Forget / any / evidence in my family / of mental illness, / violence. // Forget anything in me / that will get in / the way. // Forget my fear, / my pain. // BOTH / dead end. // Both / result in well-intentioned, / very bright, / enthusiastic people / doing NOTHING. // How about this as a novel idea: // How about / owning it? // Owning ALL of it / —the good and the bad. // Own the fact / that the 39 delegates / who wrote the greatest document, / with the greatest / mission statement, / wrote it / when slavery was an institution, / Native Americans / were being slaughtered / and women / were fighting for their lives. //