The Little Things

I wrote this for class

Sometimes,

Things are so small and,

They happen all the time,

So they begin to go unnoticed.

 

Sometimes,

The things are wrongs,

Misconceptions or stereotypes that happen so often

That they fade into the fabric of society,

Slip under the radar.

And sometimes,

If the event happened in a different situation,

It had the possibility to become big,

But it never did,

And so no one noticed.

 

Sometimes,

When no one notices,

Small, little things pile up to become

A widespread problem.

 

And most of all,

Sometimes,

Most of the time,

It happens under out very noses.

 

It might be hard to think of a time,

When you’ve experienced social injustice,

Because,

When something happens so often,

You stop noticing.

 

You stop noticing,

But the problem doesn’t stop,

In fact,

People begin to think it’s okay,

What they’re doing,

When really,

It’s not,

It never was.

 

Have you ever been in a group,

Where you’re the only one of your gender?

 

Did the other gender,

The dominant gender,

Make decisions for you,

Without consulting you,

Without including you in the discussion?

 

I’m not saying which gender for reason,

This can happen to boys as much as girls,

And it’s just as wrong either way.

 

Isn’t it funny that as soon as a girl is discriminated against,

Everyone jumps on the boy,

Yells at him about sexism,

Yet,

When a boy is discriminated against,

People do nothing.

Is it not sexism in that case as well?

Why doesn’t it matter if it happens to a boy?

 

When you were in that group,

Did the decisions affect you;

Make you do poorly?

 

 

When you didn’t have a say,

When they turned their backs,

Formed a circle,

Leaving you on the outside,

Just because you were different,

Just because you were a different gender,

How did it feel?

 

What if it had been something bigger,

More important than group work,

A graded test perhaps,

Or a final semester score,

A job interview,

Or even a court case,

That depended upon

The product of your group,

That could change someone’s life,

And you had no say.

 

What if the product was horrible,

You knew it would be when they proposed the idea,

But,

They didn’t ask you,

Didn’t listen when you tried to talk,

And,

Because of that,

Your grade suffered,

What if it made you drop a letter,

Or move from passing to failing?

Because of that,

Another person suffered,

Got a criminal record,

Maybe even sentenced to life in jail.

It happened because you knew what to do,

But weren’t given the chance,

They didn’t listen,

Because you’re different.

 

 

In the right circumstance,

What is an annoyance,

Could become a problem.

 

In the right circumstances,

Every-day injustices,

Could become social injustices,

Because,

In the end,

The only reason they didn’t let you participate

Was that,

You were different than them.

 

It wasn’t because they disliked you personally,

Or you had been mean to them,

You didn’t do anything,

All you were was different.

 

That mindset,

That pushing people away because they’re different,

It’s alright,

That can translate into discrimination,

Sexism,

And much, much more,

Because,

In the end,

It’s the little things that count.

Author's Note

What do you think? Anything I can change or improve?

Reviews

[Caradoc]

I must admit, I came here for two reasons. One, you seem to be a very good friend of Legolas'. Two, this is titled "The Little Things", which got the song of the same name from the movie "Wanted" stuck in my head. Now that I have gotten that out of the way, on to how I feel about this piece.

Great poem you have here. It flows well and even when another might say that your stanza scheme is broken, I would disagree. I believe it works for the very seem reason. Each line is impactful. The flow draws the reader down the page, forcing them to pay attention to each line, to digest the meaning before moving on. Your word choice is excellent, very appropriate for the idea behind this poem.

Your choice of subject matter and the way you paint the picture here is both truthful and very insightful. You see much. The little things add up.

As for improvements, I can't suggest much in the way of that, as this is very nearly perfect. Personally I would capitalize the beginning of each sentence because I think it looks better. Other than that, there is a slight discrepancy in the second to last stanza.

"It wasn't because they disliked you personality."

Because of the way this is written, it's hard to tell what you meant. Either you left off the "r" at the end of "your" or you meant to type "personally". It would sound good and make sense either way. It's just a little bit confusing.

Other than that, however, this piece is great. You tackle a social problem that is prevalent in today's world. You write about it well.

-Caradoc

[Isabelle Faye]

Yes, I am a very good friend of Legolas. Hm..I've never heard of that song. I guess it just goes to show the power of a title.

Thank you. Yes, this poem is intended to be read but not spoken aloud as some of the effect of it is caused by the visual formatting.

Thank you, this was actually a class assignment. The little things can mean more than one big thing.

Okay, thank you for spotting both of those issues. I'll go back through and fix them now.

Oh, It was a typo, I'll fix it. I completely understand why it's confusing.

Thank you, I'm very glad that you like my poem. That was actually a part of my prompt, how did you guess?

Thank you very much for the in-depth review. Your feedback has been very enlightening and it has given me a few thing to think about.
~Isabelle

[Caradoc]

You're most welcome. It just seemed obvious from the way you wrote about it. You put a lot of effort and feeling into this.

[Isabelle Faye]

Ah, yes. I don't do very well with scripted/prompted writing.

[Legolas]

It is a wonderful and insightful poem. This is such a problem these days and it is becoming much more of a problem. Putting it into words you have done wonderfully.