The Awakening Poem

I wrote this poem to help others who, like me, have endured great loss or have faced difficult life challenges and could therefore benefit from feeling hope. I began writing The Awakening poem featured on the home page of this site when my mother was undergoing chemotherapy--knowing I would lose her sooner than I had expected. 

 

I printed a DRAFT of my work to share with friends for feedback and a copy was stolen and uploaded online without my knowledge and more importantly, without my consent. However, my work was altered and multiple versions began appearing across different social media platforms. 

 

Some people shared my work as “Author Unknown,” thanking whoever wrote it for helping them through difficult times. I was deeply humbled and moved that my words could help people through difficult journeys. After all, the ability to provoke an emotional reaction makes writing valuable. But by the time I realized what had happened, my poem had traveled the world....some versions were even translated to other languages and uploaded to platforms like YouTube with beautiful visuals to it. Many of these were related to fighting addiction, or about pushing through a terminal illness. I felt very grateful. 

 

Others, however, falsely claiming ownership of my work.

 

I discovered a couple of people online arguing over something I had written. A simple search had revealed more than I expected. One individual in particular fought for credits as if their identity depended on it. This behavior propelled me to reflect on how painful it must be to feel unseen. I realized this when I reached out to let them know I was the original author and ask them to stop, and one instead of showing respect doubled down with their lie. Instead of an apology, they responded with hostility. Learning about a person needing validation via someone else’s work felt unreal to me. ​However, why I ignorantly believed any person willing to take credit for someone else's work would be righteous when called out, is still mind boggling till this day. I ultimately realized this was not a person with values. This was not a person with ethics, or someone who sincerely cares about helping others--this is a person who is desperate for attention. I read LIE after LIE---all very disheartening. While their behavior revealed desperation—an emptiness that no amount of recognition could cure, I also realized the capability of taking credit for someone else's work is mainly done by those suffering from self loathing. I felt sad for them. I realized the only thing driving people like these---is their need to feed an EGO. 

 

One person argued my poem was about “a bad breakup.” As I read through the various claims, I could not help recall the moment that inspired me to write this poem---watching my mother fight through endless sessions of chemotherapy with her fragile body exhausted as it wasting away on a hospital bed. Ironically, I sobbed while writing the words in this poem because I realized what truly matters in life has nothing to do with ego. 

 

Since it is in GIVING that we truly receive--and since time is irreplaceable I wanted to write a simple, heartfelt message as a gift to humanity. My mother was dying, her time was running out--and in that process I realized what is truly important in life. This is how this poem was born. 

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To those who plagiarize literary works, take a few minutes to reflect on why you feel the need to live through someone else. Think about the ways in which your EGO controls you and how this continuously holds you back. 

 

Despite everything, I am very grateful for all the people my words may have helped, even if in the tiniest way. To those who posted unauthorized versions, please replace them with the authentic, unaltered version shown on this site and kindly provide proper credits. The original author to the Awakening Poem starting with: "There comes a time in life when you finally get it...when in the midst of all the fear and insanity, you stop dead on your tracks….and somewhere inside your head a voice cries out, ENOUGH! Enough fighting and crying…or struggling to hold on. And like a child quieting down after a blind tantrum, your sobs begin to subside. You shudder once or twice, you blink back a few tears and through a mantle of wet lashes, you begin to look at the world with new eyes," is Judith Espinosa. 

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​​Thank you!

Judith Espinosa

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