My Insides

Every man has his own courage, but is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

It's easy to be intimidated by others,
to admire what you see, to feel less than.
We cannot jude hem for their insides
for they remain hidden, unseen, a mystery.
But we know ourselves, the ugly failures,
the mistakes, the inadequacies.
As long as we remain isolated,
hiding in our chagrin, we see only that,
but the fine picture we experience in others,
feeling less than, blinds us to justice, to equity,
to our inherent value, to what others see,
for that long we refuse to see
the error of judging our insides by their outsides,

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