Lady, I need two suns

I recreated this painting from a picture I drew as a child. I added two suns because of a story my professor told about a young girl who told her with considerable attitude, "Lady, I need two suns." I didn't have this girl's attitude, but I did need the extra sun. And thankfully, I think I had five or six. I had a strong mother. A giving church. A faithful God. Many compassionate teachers. And a government that - at least for my family - worked. Welfare, food stamps, housing, even therapy. We had a chance. We barely got by. But we did. And thanks to these things, my mother and sisters and I lived in the light. My heart, though, was in the shadows. Because even when you have physical security, emotional hurt is a deep wound. Hence why I drew this picture. If it weren't for the light that I did have, I would still be in the shadows - unable to heal the emotional wounds caused by my father because of every other terror in the way.

Children today face one horror after another in our world. Poverty, abuse, terrorism, violence, homelessness, war, hunger. The list goes on. Too many children are left in the shadows caused by these crimes and made invisible by our reluctance to face the responsibility of society to care for the weakest among us. Our children need light but we turn away our eyes.

Written on this painting is my commitment, and my challenge, to erasing the shadows and the invisibility that clouded my childhood and continue to haunt millions of children today:

I choose the light. Hope. You will not put me in the dark. Perseverance. I will not be invisible. DIgnity. I will not be silent. Courage. I will stand up. Truth. I will stand up for the child that I was. Thrive. Who once used this art to beg for light. Freedom. I will stand for the children now in the shadows who we pretend do not exist. Justice. Who we hope someone else will save. Love. Or worse - that they will just go away. Humanity. I will stand up for the future of those children that should be full of life and love and potential. Faith. I will live everyday for peace. Change. It is not a dream to me. Equality. It is an obligation. One Race. I will put as many suns into the world as I can until the shadows run away. Light. I will NEVER GIVE UP. I will choose peace. I will choose love. I will choose to listen. I will choose to see. I will choose to stand up. I will change the world. Choose with me.