She Told Me
By Kalsang Dolkar
Grade Eleven, Burlington High School
An older relative once told me that I am lucky to have been born in America.
She told me that I should be thankful for the fact that I am not
pushed down stairwells, or struck by hard hands,
and that I should be thankful for the fact that I’ve never faced the risk
of being stolen, and sold,
and raped.
She told me about the girls with numbers for names,
the girls whose bodies are torn like fabric over and over until they are nothing but spindles of thread.
She said to me, Child, you are lucky.
I was twelve years old at the time…
Thinking back on everything she had told me I realized that
Yes,
Comparatively, I am lucky.
But why?
Are the atrocities these girls are experiencing
Truly considered the standard of living in today’s world?
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