He stared at the paper in hand,
Jaw hanging open.
It wasn’t possible,
But it was.

His mind danced back to his childhood,
Of the day he waved goodbye
As his father left through the door,
Not knowing that it would be the last.

He watched his mother slowly fall
Into a deep, dark state of depression
And watched as the growling in his belly grew
As his mother’s mind fell.

And yet, he kept going.
He went to school and read his books
And when he couldn’t afford the textbooks,
He went to the library,
Studying until no light was left in the sky.

He had no money but it didn’t matter,
He had hope and he had his pride.
He had his 4.7 GPA and now,
He had a full ride to Stanford.
He had hope.

Hope doesn’t die.
Not with family abandonment,
Not with poverty.
It lives on, forever and forever,
Strengthening those who will change the world.