The Awakening Poem

The Awakening poem featured on the home page of this site has a lot to do with knowing I would lose my mother sooner than I had expected. 

 

I began to write this piece years ago, then set it aside. But ultimately, 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. My work was altered by some---and plagiarized in whole by others. However, multiple versions appearing across different social media platforms. 

 

Some people sharing the work as “Author Unknown,” thanking whoever wrote it for helping them through difficult times. I was deeply humbled--moved--by reading those comments. I even found recovery communities using my poem for encouragement. I was flattered. Except credits were wrong. 

​

However, by the time I discovered what had really taken place, my poem had traveled the world....some versions uploaded to YouTube with beautiful visuals. Some versions posted on blogs. Many thanking the author for helping them fight addiction or push through a terminal illness. Except that they were thanking an imposter. They were thanking a plagiarizer. I found two women fighting on Facebook for credits, although they knew very well that neither were the real author.

 

I felt--and still feel to this day--deeply grateful that my words helped others in some way. However, those falsely claiming ownership of my words is wrong. That simple online search revealed a person fighting for credit as if their entire identity depended on getting validated by the ownership. But that person did not create or write this piece either. 

 

I sat in front of my computer baffled--confused--about how a person could be propelled to do this, to have such poor character traits...and in that moment realized I was witnessing the behavior of people lacking values. Incredibly unethical people. Because this was simply--a thief. A liar. 

 

I read through the LIES---very disheartening---and realized their fight was driven by EGO. The very thing my poem, The Awakening, warns against. My words promote the complete opposite. Ironically what I argue truly matters in life has NOTHING to do with ego. ​This poem's focus is precisely about letting go of EGO to work on authenticity, and on being selfless because it is in giving we genuinely receive. Think about that for a moment.

 

I have copies of communications between some of the plagiarizers arguing over credits---time stamped. I have names, platforms, websites, with information proving the wrongs. Protecting original works matter because copies are mere watered-down versions and altered duplicates change original meanings all together. Moreover, providing proper credits is important because this is a reflection of who you side with---authenticity---or plagiarism.

​

If you want to know why this poem touches so many hearts or why it makes some readers weep, it is because I wrote it from the heart. I too weeped, while writing it. I share a wisdom gained through difficult and painful lessons--readers can reflect with the message because it resonates with them.

 

Copyright begins with the first word an author writes down. Every sentence, every paragraph, every revision from that author is protected.  Do the right thing and support truth, support authors with original works. I had to use a draft format to defend my work, and while not perfect---it is genuine. The poem posted on this site's home page is an original--and 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. No one else. 

​

​​​Sincerely,

Judith Espinosa - the author

​

​