We Stand the Same - Serene Huynh (8th grade)

They taught me silence before they taught me my name,

the quiet rules built inside the game—

who gets listened to, who gets ignored,

who gets the chance, who’s shown the door.

I saw it in the way eyes turn away,

in words some are allowed to say.

In how some dreams are called “too far,”

while others are told just how bright they are.

But worth is not something you earn or prove,

not something only a few can move.

No one is born with less to be—

We all deserve equality.

We are not “them.” We are not “us.”

Not shaped by judgment passed in trust.

We are hands that build the same sky,

different stories, same reason to try.

So stop the lines that sort and divide,

that tell some voices to stay inside.

A human life is never small—

We stand the same. We stand as all.

And if the world forgets that truth,

let it be changed by me—and you.

Because I am not less.

And you are not less.

And no one—no one—is meant to be less.