mosaics are not greyscale | Teen Ink

mosaics are not greyscale

July 3, 2021
By lpagaduan BRONZE, Daly City, California
lpagaduan BRONZE, Daly City, California
3 articles 0 photos 1 comment

our lives and losses are built by statistics, but

what if we broke free from the shackles of numbers

what if we started observing the colors, the details,

instead of in black and white?

 

what if we approached racism

with the making of mosaics,

instead of meeting quotas?

what if I told you that

people are dropping like fruit flies every second,

instead of updating a graph for you?

what if we pointed out that

immigrants carry a thousand monuments

on their backs

in the scorching sun

so that their kids can go to school,

instead of expecting documents

that give humans

their human rights,

from one human to another?

our lives and losses are built by statistics, but

what if we broke free from the shackles of numbers

what if we started observing the colors, the details,

instead of in black and white?


what if we approached racism

with the making of mosaics,

instead of meeting quotas?

what if I told you that

people are dropping like fruit flies every second,

instead of updating a graph for you?

what if we pointed out that

immigrants carry a thousand monuments

on their backs

in the scorching sun

so that their kids can go to school,

instead of expecting documents

that give humans

their human rights,

from one human to another?


I am not a data point,

I have more nuances than there are numbers in infinity

I am not a printout,

I am a medley of colors and hues no printer can produce


our lives and losses are built by statistics, but

what if we broke free from the shackles of numbers

what if we started observing the colors, the details

instead of in black and white


would the picture make sense to you then?


The author's comments:

My inspiration for this piece rooted in my passion for civic engagement. Since the pandemic started, statistics have dominated the media with death counts, percentage of positive test results, and more--I've never liked this approach with any issue, not just Covid-19. You simply cannot capture grief and inequality with numbers.


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on Jul. 14 2021 at 5:28 pm
lpagaduan BRONZE, Daly City, California
3 articles 0 photos 1 comment
I think my poem was pasted twice for some reason! nonetheless super happy with this poem haha