Judge-me-not
Of the billions yet unborn who
Will never experience anything at all
I am here; I was born
My parents were not perfect
I was given this opportunity
With a certain genetic condition or predisposition
To an early disease or one in old age
Creeping up chronically or hitting me suddenly
With a certain mental, physical, linguistic and social ability
With or without tech support to enhance my mobility
With a certain racial appearance, body size and ethnicity
Maybe I'm beautiful by someone's standards
More or less
As I'm multidimensional
I was born this way into a world
With predetermined opportunities for me
Set up by our collective ancestry
And best I could with my capacity
I made my choices
I am here, and so are you
We are not equal
On just a few or many more dimensions
So don't treat me like you know what it's like
To be me, 'cause only I know that
Reality
My existence will not be forgotten because I've made a ripple
It's in the web, it's connected to you, to other people, to the relationships we share
To the unborn generation
We determine their opportunities
So decide to get to know me 'cause
That we've both been born at all is
Serendipity
Composed by Charlene Wong
Will never experience anything at all
I am here; I was born
My parents were not perfect
I was given this opportunity
With a certain genetic condition or predisposition
To an early disease or one in old age
Creeping up chronically or hitting me suddenly
With a certain mental, physical, linguistic and social ability
With or without tech support to enhance my mobility
With a certain racial appearance, body size and ethnicity
Maybe I'm beautiful by someone's standards
More or less
As I'm multidimensional
I was born this way into a world
With predetermined opportunities for me
Set up by our collective ancestry
And best I could with my capacity
I made my choices
I am here, and so are you
We are not equal
On just a few or many more dimensions
So don't treat me like you know what it's like
To be me, 'cause only I know that
Reality
My existence will not be forgotten because I've made a ripple
It's in the web, it's connected to you, to other people, to the relationships we share
To the unborn generation
We determine their opportunities
So decide to get to know me 'cause
That we've both been born at all is
Serendipity
Composed by Charlene Wong
by my Circumstances
Judge-me-not (expanded)
Of all the many eggs in a woman's ovaries and the many sperm of men
Of all the different ways the two could meet
By choice, accident, rape or through new technologies
Came the probability of conception
And still that doesn't cover how likely you are to develop fully
In a warm womb if not aborted naturally or medically aided
With or without intention
Of the billions yet unborn who
Will never experience
Anything
At all
I am here
I was born
Early or late
Maybe adopted
Maybe loved, maybe not
My parents were not perfect
I was given this opportunity
With a certain genetic condition or predisposition
To an early disease or one in old age
Creeping up chronically or hitting me suddenly
With a certain mental, physical, linguistic and social ability
With or without tech support to enhance my mobility
I can survive best I can
I breathe
Through I may be blind or deaf or mute
With a certain appearance and race as you see my
Hair curly, wavy or straight, easy or a challenge to maintain
It may be my natural colour or some other hue
My skin pale or tan, sienna or ebony, or some shade in-between,
With or without freckles, beauty spots, a mole or two
Eyelashes long or short, eyelid crease mono, double or partial
Nose shape wide or narrow, flat or raised, pointing this or that way
Lips full or thin, deep or shallow eye sockets
My teeth crooked or straight, my voice bass or soprano
Long or short fingers and toes, right or left handed
Or ambidextrous to some degree
Maybe I ain't got a limb or two
Or perhaps I got extra
And body size;
Big or small, short or tall, heavy or light, plump or skinny, strong or scrawny
Maybe I'm beautiful by someone's standards
More or less
As I'm multidimensional
I am human, a paradox
Cold and callous, charming and caring, considerate and compassionate
All at the same time
Crazy and calm
With a fixed or fluid gender identity
I can express however I choose
By the clothes and accessories I dress myself
And my spending habits, mannerisms, and preferences
Match or mismatch what's between my legs
I've tend to wear glasses or contacts
Tattoos or piercings
Or both or none
Part of an ethnicity
In a socio-linguistic culture
Historically oppressed or privileged
Maybe I moved, my parents moved, my family moved
Recently or generations ago
Speaking a dialect with or without an accent
Part of an organized religion or lack thereof
Learned to appreciate a certain ideology and world-view
Into a certain class or caste
Grew up in a neighbourhood, luxurious or ghetto
With or without access to education
High or low grades if any at all
Committed crimes maybe
Spent time behind bars
Drunk my ass off
Again and again
Or maybe my parents did
And I stayed sober
While I couldn't control my friends or my partner(s)
I might've smoked something
Okay, a whole lotta somethings
Or I just hear and see it in the news
I was born into or worked my way to
Material wealth or poverty
Emotional wealth or poverty
Paid to have surgery
Have more money than I know what to do with
Got more surgery
Believe me, it was necessary
I struggled with cancer, had a stroke or heart attack
A pressing medical condition
From an accident perhaps
Almost lost my life or died once
Or know friends and relatives who have
Personality
Intimate or distant
Maybe I'm single, maybe I'm not
A single parent perhaps, divorced, a widow or widower
Married or re-married
Maybe several times
Clean or with HIV or some other STI
Attracted to masculinity, androgyny, femininity
Or something out of this world entirely
To no one or everyone
Platonically, aesthetically, romantically, sexually
You might guess my orientation and I might hide
Or give you a good show and just be me
I was born this way into a world
With predetermined opportunities for me
Set up by our collective ancestry
And best I could with my capacity
I made my choices
Left a trail of kids
Or not
Adopted
Maybe just one or two
Even have grand-kids
Great-grand-kids!
I might raise 'em if I had 'em
Given what time and energy I have left
And the love I learned to express or shut down
I might look like I don't care
Or maybe I care too much
Whether I'm mentally ill or sound
It's what I know
To be true
Right now
I am here, and so are you
We are not equal
On just a few or many more dimensions
I may go to the movies
And identify with a character
A protagonist like you
But you can't with
A character like me
There are next to none
Protagonists like me
So don't treat me like you know what it's like
To be me, 'cause only I know that
Reality
With equity we can
Exist with dignity and respect
Together
Understanding intersectionality
My existence will not be forgotten because I've made a ripple
It's in the web, it's connected to you, to other people, to the relationships we share
To the unborn generation
We determine their opportunities
So decide to get to know me 'cause
That we've both been born at all is
Serendipity
Composed by Charlene Wong
Of all the different ways the two could meet
By choice, accident, rape or through new technologies
Came the probability of conception
And still that doesn't cover how likely you are to develop fully
In a warm womb if not aborted naturally or medically aided
With or without intention
Of the billions yet unborn who
Will never experience
Anything
At all
I am here
I was born
Early or late
Maybe adopted
Maybe loved, maybe not
My parents were not perfect
I was given this opportunity
With a certain genetic condition or predisposition
To an early disease or one in old age
Creeping up chronically or hitting me suddenly
With a certain mental, physical, linguistic and social ability
With or without tech support to enhance my mobility
I can survive best I can
I breathe
Through I may be blind or deaf or mute
With a certain appearance and race as you see my
Hair curly, wavy or straight, easy or a challenge to maintain
It may be my natural colour or some other hue
My skin pale or tan, sienna or ebony, or some shade in-between,
With or without freckles, beauty spots, a mole or two
Eyelashes long or short, eyelid crease mono, double or partial
Nose shape wide or narrow, flat or raised, pointing this or that way
Lips full or thin, deep or shallow eye sockets
My teeth crooked or straight, my voice bass or soprano
Long or short fingers and toes, right or left handed
Or ambidextrous to some degree
Maybe I ain't got a limb or two
Or perhaps I got extra
And body size;
Big or small, short or tall, heavy or light, plump or skinny, strong or scrawny
Maybe I'm beautiful by someone's standards
More or less
As I'm multidimensional
I am human, a paradox
Cold and callous, charming and caring, considerate and compassionate
All at the same time
Crazy and calm
With a fixed or fluid gender identity
I can express however I choose
By the clothes and accessories I dress myself
And my spending habits, mannerisms, and preferences
Match or mismatch what's between my legs
I've tend to wear glasses or contacts
Tattoos or piercings
Or both or none
Part of an ethnicity
In a socio-linguistic culture
Historically oppressed or privileged
Maybe I moved, my parents moved, my family moved
Recently or generations ago
Speaking a dialect with or without an accent
Part of an organized religion or lack thereof
Learned to appreciate a certain ideology and world-view
Into a certain class or caste
Grew up in a neighbourhood, luxurious or ghetto
With or without access to education
High or low grades if any at all
Committed crimes maybe
Spent time behind bars
Drunk my ass off
Again and again
Or maybe my parents did
And I stayed sober
While I couldn't control my friends or my partner(s)
I might've smoked something
Okay, a whole lotta somethings
Or I just hear and see it in the news
I was born into or worked my way to
Material wealth or poverty
Emotional wealth or poverty
Paid to have surgery
Have more money than I know what to do with
Got more surgery
Believe me, it was necessary
I struggled with cancer, had a stroke or heart attack
A pressing medical condition
From an accident perhaps
Almost lost my life or died once
Or know friends and relatives who have
Personality
Intimate or distant
Maybe I'm single, maybe I'm not
A single parent perhaps, divorced, a widow or widower
Married or re-married
Maybe several times
Clean or with HIV or some other STI
Attracted to masculinity, androgyny, femininity
Or something out of this world entirely
To no one or everyone
Platonically, aesthetically, romantically, sexually
You might guess my orientation and I might hide
Or give you a good show and just be me
I was born this way into a world
With predetermined opportunities for me
Set up by our collective ancestry
And best I could with my capacity
I made my choices
Left a trail of kids
Or not
Adopted
Maybe just one or two
Even have grand-kids
Great-grand-kids!
I might raise 'em if I had 'em
Given what time and energy I have left
And the love I learned to express or shut down
I might look like I don't care
Or maybe I care too much
Whether I'm mentally ill or sound
It's what I know
To be true
Right now
I am here, and so are you
We are not equal
On just a few or many more dimensions
I may go to the movies
And identify with a character
A protagonist like you
But you can't with
A character like me
There are next to none
Protagonists like me
So don't treat me like you know what it's like
To be me, 'cause only I know that
Reality
With equity we can
Exist with dignity and respect
Together
Understanding intersectionality
My existence will not be forgotten because I've made a ripple
It's in the web, it's connected to you, to other people, to the relationships we share
To the unborn generation
We determine their opportunities
So decide to get to know me 'cause
That we've both been born at all is
Serendipity
Composed by Charlene Wong
by my Circumstances (expanded)
Website created November 2012. Last updated: 08-11-12.