A Loving Brother Encourages His Sister to Live and Fight

A Loving Brother Encourages His Sister to Live and Fight

HSC to SBC

Peter T. Atkinson H-SC ‘00

After you rise you have to live,

And life demands your all to give,

Not all at once, but over time,

And it costs more than simply dollars and dimes.

To persevere and run the race,

All the truths you have to face.

A wiling spirit is of course essential,

But more is required to be consequential,

For you must keep fighting when the cameras go away,

And the trending slows to a few a day,

When the bills come due, and the dissent begins,

And disagreements divide former friends.

When the sun is shining and the flowers bloom,

And there just is no sign of the future gloom,

When all is great and the tide does rise,

The forgotten truth can be a surprise.

That life is challenging, and the road is long.

You’ll find that wanting to quit wasn’t wrong,

For you wished to stand where others had stood,

Who decided quitting was the only good,

The only way to avoid the pain,

The easier choice than enduring the strain,

‘Twas easier than all those fardels to bear,

To just end it all and choose not to care,

To forget the past, the commitment made,

Forget the innocents, who’ve been betrayed,

Forget how others have been affected,

The lives of those who’ve been redirected.

But you, my sisters, chose to live instead

Of the peaceful quietus of the dead.

You’ve chosen to be, and so endure.

Remember your purpose and be sure

That though the battle will be long to fight,

The fight you fight is one that’s right.

No matter how long, how far, how hard,

No matter how bruised, and battered, and scarred,

You have what it takes, and more than that,

You’re more than equipped for this combat.

Don’t be fooled when the darkness falls,

When the momentum lags, the movement stalls,

Remember the power that gave you rise,

And from that faith, you can surmise

That if you stay faithful, proud, and true,

There is truly nothing you cannot do.