After reading out loud her story “The Big Earthquake” about Japan’s tsunami (check out the previous blog post), Beatrice pulled out the poem below, written by her son Ronald a few years ago. I remembered it right away. That familiar page of lines loaded up so much wisdom, so much reality, so much love. I remembered it because Beatrice had actually brought this poem to class back in 2009 or early 2010 when our class was still tiny, maybe with four or five regular members. I feel like back then, she brought it in to show us what a beautiful poem her son wrote, as a way to introduce us to her very family. But this time around, she requested that I make a copy for everyone in our class – which now has a roster of over 50 seniors and 20 teens – she didn’t have to say why. Because WE are a family now.
Ronald Newkirk (Beatrice’s son)
Shared in class 3/17/2011
The Family
When it’s family,
you forgive them for they know not what they do
When it’s family,
you accept them, ‘cause you have no choice but to.
When it’s family,
they’re a mirror of the worst and best in you.
And when they always put you to the test and
you always do you best, and just pray for GOD to
do the rest.
When it’s family,
some are preachers, some are gays, some are addicts,
drunks and strays, but none are turned away.
When it’s family,
some are lucky, others ain’t, some are fighters,
others faint, winners, losers, sinners, saints.
It’s all about family.
And when it’s family, you trust
them and your heart’s an open door.
And when it’s family,
you tolerate what you’d kill others for.
When it’s family,
you love and hate and take, then give some more.
Somehow you justify mistakes, try to find some better way
to solve the problems day to day in the family.
You take the trouble as it comes and love them more
than anyone, good or bad or indifferent it’s still family.
You choose your lover, pick your friends,
not the family that you’re in, they’ll be with you
‘til the end cause it’s family.
And when it’s family,
you forgive them for they know not what they do.
When it’s family,
they’re a mirror of the worst and best in you.
When it’s family,
let me be all I should be to
The Family. . .
