Sometimes I have to remind myself
that around the makeup covered, smiling supermodels
who say that life is great
and refuse to cry over death and struggle
That I will still choose vulnerability

Sometimes I have to convince myself
that when people I have seen around
Ask me how I am
To tell them when my life isn’t fine
And to choose vulnerability

Sometimes I have to whisper to myself
To keep going
That I don’t always have to be smiling
But I always have to be loving
And that honesty is better “than having it all together”

And when that girl who seems to always wear the perfect smile
Breaks down and needs someone to find
She will choose me
Because she knows I won’t smile at her
And tell her “it’s only a bad day”

And when that little boy
Falls and scrapes his knee
I will run over to him
From my side of the sidewalk
And pick him up and cry with him

Because I will be soft
In a hard world
I will be brave
Brave enough to not lose my heart
Even though the world tells me to give it away.

Because I believe sensitivity is caring.
Listening is sharing.
And vulnerability
Is one of the most beautiful
And rare things in the world.