Dillingham 11th grader Erin Martin wrote a poem to raise awareness of May as Mental Health Awareness Month. This is one in a series of student writings KDLG will feature.
This Month
Take advantage of this month.
Bitter, straining trauma traces the helplessness that encompasses and affects each one of us.
Because of this we sometimes forget that each of our emotions,
both promising and painful, possess meaning.
It deeply disheartens me to say that Alaska, our gorgeous and captivating home,
is sadly also home to the highest amount of child maltreatment.
Our precious youth, craving our praise, are more likely to be abused, rather than embraced, at a national rate.
I hate that we hold the nation's largest number of reported sexual assaults.
I hate the fact that there is a number for this sickening ravishment in the first place.
And I hate that the average age of this inhumane violation is 15.
Take advantage of this month.
These already large numbers are calling, longing to continue to corrupt our communities.
Action must be taken with mindfulness, and motives must be set only to empower today's youth.
Praising our youth has a direct correlation, not only on their joy, but also their motivation.
We need to be purely impartial,
because in reality
we all know that there is no such thing as perfection.
To encourage them to be would be subject to immediate rejection.
With the acts of outrageous love, and only out of overwhelming care, do we tell them that they are not obsolete pieces of society.
Be eager to tell our beautiful young people that their existence is not insignificant and enclose them with the electric bliss that is life in hopes of engagement.
Our small communities should turn to strengthening our relationships with our children,
because, to be a small community is not to be unimportant to others in comparison.
Take advantage of this month
tell your children,
our youth,
that you love them,
because
we are only
today’s youth
once.
This piece was written for an English class at Dillingham High School. The students chose to write either a personal essay, a poem, or an opinion piece for the radio and web. The views expressed here are entirely the writer's, and do not necessarily reflect the views of KDLG.
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