by Kelly Ma
I was told the world was level now
like a table carefully adjusted
so no one’s glass slides off.
But I still notice
how some voices echo longer in rooms
how some names arrive already louder
before they’re even spoken.
They say, things are better than before
as if history is a debt
we can repay with slogans
and inspirational posters in classrooms.
I’ve learned equality is often
a word people like to say slowly
like it tastes better that way
than it actually functions in practice.
Still, I’ve seen it happen
in small, unglamorous ways
a girl speaking and not being interrupted
a hand raised and actually seen
a moment not explained away
or talked over
or softened.
Not fireworks. Not miracles.
Just the quiet absence
of someone needing to prove
they deserved to be in the room at all.
Maybe that’s what it is, then.
Not balance like perfection
but balance like effort
constantly recalibrated
by people who refuse
to let the scale decide alone.
Art by Cesar Legaspi, “Never“
About the Author
Kelly is a teen writer who continues to write through hearing loss, believing that storytelling is guided not by the ears, but by the heart.