Welcome to 1800Wheelchair.com Winter '17 Scholarship

Topic

Topic: Please submit a 'visual poem', in a style of your choosing, on the theme of overcoming a personal challenge.

Statement from 1800wheelchair

1800wheelchair is very proud to announce the winner of our Fall '16/Winter '17 scholarship contest. With well over 380 entries, this one stood apart for its vivid drawing and its compelling poem.

Winning Submission: Personal Statement

I wrote this poem as a celebration of overcoming my obstacle of self-worth. Growing up, I was bigger than my peers and that provided them with ammunition to put me down. It became an issue quickly because no matter what my family or friends said, weight was my weakness.

Boys didn’t like me because I wasn’t skinny. There were so many other choices to pick from, so why choose me? That was a blow to my self-esteem. I stopped caring about boys and instead searched for friends. That ended badly as well because I soon realized that girls were using me as a “fat friend” to make themselves feel better and I obliged. I was too young to understand.

My school was a battlefield because no matter how many good people I surrounded myself with, there was always a bad apple hidden within who would say the cruelest words. I struggled with my self-worth and I never appreciated who I was because I was too busy focusing on what I wasn’t.

I wasted my tears and my time on their harsh words because I was sensitive. I couldn’t help it. I spent my money on fad diets to fit in, and I dressed in clothes that were trendy, just in a couple sizes bigger than the other girls. I did all of this in an attempt to fit in, but I still stood out. It took me until high school to realize that being big was okay. That is where I met quality people. In a school of diversity, it was normal to be different. I am so thankful I learned what I did because size didn’t matter because, at the end of the day, your weight was just a number on a scale. Personality is what was important. Humor and wit are what kept the mind attracted.

I had those traits and I celebrate them every day because I am beautiful no matter what others say. I realize that I won’t change a thing about myself for anyone or anything because, to me, my self-worth is priceless, and that’s all that matters.

Winning Submission: Poem

Because I am me

 

I am surrounded by people

With a few among the many

That appreciate me

Because of my big personality

Not caring about my big body

Because all of it is me

 

The ones with fake intentions

They pass those whispers behind backs

Like a game of telephone

But where each whisper gets worse

Changed not from confusion

But from spite

And it hurts

Because all of it is against me

 

Like the whispers

I started to change

And it felt out of my hands

Because I forgot about the few

And became overwhelmed by the many

I played copy cat and I conformed

But that wasn’t right

Because all of it wasn’t me

 

When I realized that

I stopped changing myself for them

Because all of it is me

 

And I shouldn’t change me.