I Believe

I believe in books.
I believe in picture books and chapter books
Books of facts and books of quotes.
I believe in the power of a book
to make us laugh, cry, question, wonder.
I believe books will take us to magical places 
far away, inside ourselves.

I believe in libraries.
 Halls of endless books and knowledge
Open to anyone who comes to seek it.
Shelves and stacks
Wonder and possibility
available for all.

I believe in play.
I believe in pretending and imagining,
creating, building, 
cooking up plastic food 
coloring yellow suns with smiley faces.
Making mud pies in the dirt
Digging sand castles on the beach.

I believe in the helpers,
the ones Mr. Rogers talked about,
the ones who are always present 
in times of terror and despair.
I believe love wins,
even when it seems impossible
 to believe.

I believe that Martin Luther King Jr. 
was right when he said
"Intelligence plus character-
that is the goal
of true education."
I believe your character 
is who you are
when no else is watching.

I believe we all have gifts
and they aren't identical
aren't standardized
aren't common.
I believe in music and art
movement and dance
laughter and joy
I believe in making choices
 and taking chances.

I believe in writing.
I believe in picking up your pen
or firing up your iPad
and putting words to thoughts
memories on the page.
I believe writing 
helps you find yourself
and make sense of your world
know where you fit in
and where you never will.

I believe 
on the darkest days 
 absent of joy and laughter
chances and choice,
because you're a writer
you know who you've been,
you know who you are,
and you know 
no one, not any one 
can ever take away
what you believe. 

(This post was originally published on March 31, 2015 on my blog, Courage Doesn't Always Roar. I still believe.)