Righting a Wrong
A shy little girl
walked softly through hallways
as if quietness
could make cruelty miss her.
Big glasses on her face,
bulky hearing aids behind her ears,
words touched by a lisp
that made children laugh
before they listened.
She learned early
that difference could be dangerous
in the hands of the unkind.
So she folded inward.
Made herself smaller.
Spoke less.
Looked down.
Tried to disappear
inside oversized sweaters
and careful silence.
They offered her a language once—
beautiful hands in motion,
a doorway called ASL.
But fear answered first.
No, thank you.
Not because she did not want it,
but because she could not bear
one more reason
to be chosen by bullies.
One more thing to explain.
One more target to wear.
So she turned away
from something meant for her,
and carried that ache for years.
She grew into a woman
with degrees, titles, children, scars.
She learned to heal others
while parts of herself
still waited in the dark.
Then one day,
the little girl inside her whispered:
Go back.
Get what was always yours.
So now an adult,
she walks through new doors
at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College,
registering not just for classes
but for reclamation.
A year-long journey
to right a wrong
the world helped write.
To learn the language
she should have been free to love
from the very beginning.
This is not late.
This is divine timing.
Here’s to change.
Here’s to courage after fear.
Here’s to hands finally speaking
what the heart always knew.
Here’s to self-actualization.
Here’s to healing the child within.
Here’s to loving and living
my best life—
freely,
fully,
and unapologetically me.
Love,
Narita Snead MPH, MSN, APN-BC