"To Take Action" by Hannah Spearrin (Androscoggin County)

There are children who know the sounds of bombs better than their own laughter. They carry
the memories of home in their torn up pockets, memories that might not fit again. 
Wars far from our homes erase their names, futures, and chances at life. The world calls them
invisible, but truthfully, we aren't looking hard enough. 
Why do some lives get attention like pop stars but others don’t? We scroll past their stories
as if they were nothing but headlines. Yet every head line was once a child with a story, a
favorite color, a home, and a life worth living. 
These children aren’t invisible, they are waiting to be seen, to be heard. 
Maybe the first step is simple. 
We pay attention. 
We care.
We take action.

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HANNAH SPEARRIN is fifteen and wrote “To Take Action” while a tenth grader at Lewiston High School in Lewiston, Maine. Her story is about the children in war experiencing bombings. What prompted Hannah to write this poem was social media bringing awareness to these situations. She wanted “to take action.” Hannah has always wanted to bring awareness to the situation, and this was the first step.