The Seeing Place

I was very, very sad for a long, long time
and hence, went deep inside of myself
to see what it was that I could possibly find

And in that seeing place, deep-down inside
I saw the path of my own fate and faith
The past, present, and future combined

Why me? I argued…I’m much too afraid
They won't believe me, I desperately opined
Who am I to be, this person, this me?

How am I to be, this person, this we?
What will come of me, they’ll ask, if
the come what mays are to come true

The seeing place being a being place
I heard: just tell the truth, tell your truth!
And so, I told my truth out-loud and cried

For in that seeing place, I saw myself
My face, young like a little girl’s and old
like a dying woman’s, trapped in a mirror

I saw my age and my grace, the first time
accepting to love my flaws and wrinkles
For, in the seeing place, I saw myself

And it was then, only then, that I was less sad
and less afraid. Of seeing. Of being. Of freeing.
In the seeing place, a being space, being me.

© 2025 Chenda Duong

Note: The first step to controlling a people is to convince them that they have no real choice and autonomy to fight against power and oppression.

But if that were actually true, billionaires would not be working this hard to dismantle democracy and take away our right to vote, our right to speak and dissent and protest, and our right to learn.

The world is not shaped by random forces, it is shaped by men, wielding enormous and grotesque power and wealth and the force of violence to control and subjugate others.

But there are other forces that are just as powerful: love, hope, faith, freedom, family, community, art, poetry, music, stories, and ideas.

These things are what led to the abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, and the 1st Civil Rights Movement.

I won’t deny that fear is a very powerful psychological force…but we can overcome it. I overcame mine.

Your shackles may feel so loose that you can think that they don’t even exist, but the cost and consequence of inequity and disequity is very real and deadly to millions: people, just like you and I, with hopes and dreams and families that love them.

They deserve better…and we deserve to have the vision and heart and courage it takes to help them.

Only you can decide if your fears will best you…or if you will best it.

Only you can decide if the lives of the people who live below you and toil for your convenience and ease matter.

Only you can decide if you will submit to power…or fight against it.

I hope you will choose our side. We need you. 🦋

The Conversation: “Henry Kissinger’s bombing campaign likely killed hundreds of thousands of Cambodians − and set path for the ravages of the Khmer Rouge” (1923)