Filtered Thoughts

Photograph: Sharron R. McMillan

Each of us has a wonderful form of filtering what we know,
and letting into our tender spirit only a little at a time,
often fooling ourselves but more often fooling others.
You can be hard, sarcastic, cynical.
I can be weepy, withdrawn, poetic.
Someone else may just pretend they do not see
by acting dumb, quiet, spaced out.
We are all basically doing the same thing.
We are saying to the world,
You may be tough and hard,
you may hurt me,
or even cause my death
but I am the one who decides how I will handle your blows.
I shall remain an individual in how I react
and therefore I win.

©Sharron R. McMillan