—Martin Luther King Jr., 1955
The mighty stream is the system
and we are the water.
Some days we struggle to swim and flow
in a world filled with
hate,
violence,
bombs,
nuclear bombs …
[let me say that again]
nuclear bombs.
Do you,
do YOU
realize that we dropped 2 nuclear bombs
with the intent of harming others
only to have it backfire on ourselves?
Destroying our environment
and our people
with toxins,
radiation,
cancers …
Then again,
on some days,
it’s easy to be in that mighty stream,
the power felt on Capitol Hill,
explaining peaceful and just policies.
We are the water.
We ebb and flow through the stream of meeting
after meeting in DC.
Sometimes we hit some rocks in the stream, get stuck,
or take a little detour,
but sometimes, we are white-water rapids,
the energy and strength and new things that come with being
so young and eager.
To see my 24-year-old eyes looking into
another 24-year-old’s eyes …
and I think she and I both realized it at once.
We are here.
We are not only the future,
but right now too.
We have the POWER
to say NO to
all these things that the system has always
pushed, or hidden, or promoted, or purchased.
We are the water.
We are the water of the movement.
We are the tears that come on days that the world seems a little less hopeless,
but we are also the sweat that goes into days of walking around
Organizing
Rallying
Researching
Writing
Fighting for justice
The mighty stream is the system
And we are the water
—we are young and we have power
—By Cassie Weck, who belongs to the Jerusalem Farm community in KC, MO, and attended DC Days in May to lobby with the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability.