Conflicts written in invisible ink

Pathways mapped for others never in sync

Resolution negotiated before voices heard

Outcomes settled, silent patience preferred

Horse trade language dressed up as fair

Non-existent when power's not shared

A child finishing school witnessed it all

Carried the burden, saw systems fall

Composure expected, Silence rewarded

Endurance reframed as virtue applauded

I learned access isn't entry

Process isn't protection

Fairness isn't built in

It's an exception

I learned how one person's collapse

Becomes leverage for others strategic lapse

How systems and corporations profit from strain

While integrity's optional in the legal domain

I learned systems don't break with a scream

They erode in slow motion quietly obscene

Until the burden slides without remorse

To the least resourced of course

I learned without education absurdity thrives

Systems get away with it in plain sight

The public looks away unless it's their pain

Then asks why you didn't just move on again

I learned how courts, boards and rooms

Use your worst chapter to strengthen their moves

Vulnerability reframed as consent

Silence assumed, resistance resented

I learned gatekeepers stop flow, stop access, stop light

Call it procedure, neutrality policy, right

Unless you pursue it privately alone

It simply won't happen, truth stays unshown

I learned some begrudge you for speaking aloud

Standing too firm and not bowing out

Courage misread as confidence

Strength is met with intolerance

I learned resilience isn't compliance

It isn't quiet, It isn't consent

Resilience isn't passive, It's forged

When you're emptied unheard ignored

Staying human when machinery prefers distance

When compassion is costly and truth meets resistance

I learned justice can cost you your life

Youth, Peace and Love are all caught in the strife

Choosing the path meant walking alone

But it shielded my child and returned a home

I learned who would stand and who would not

Who watched from comfort who faced the cost

How loyalty thins when nothing is gained

Who stays present under strain

I learned mediation and horse trade reward power

Leaving the disadvantaged to count the hours

Some remedies don't exist in law

But should if justice is more than decor

Two decades of lessons etched in lived decree

Priceless armour forged painfully

Not theory, rhetoric , or review

This was learned now what do we do

We've remedies to correct

Justice to ensure

Productivity to perfect

Policy and corporations to answer for

© Dianne Mead. All rights reserved.