My Hope For You.

I hope you always shine.

I hope you always give people the benefit of the doubt.

I hope Tiana is always your favorite princess, or if she’s not, I hope it’s not because you realized she looks different than you.

I hope you see people with all kinds of differences, and acknowledge them and accept them, and love them for whoever they are.

I hope you speak up when others are being spoken down to.

I hope you speak up when you are spoken down to.

I hope you do the work to learn and effect change.

I hope you care.

I hope you don’t roll your eyes at people of color when they say they have been oppressed and hurt and scared for too long.

I hope you believe them. I hope your heart aches for them and with them.

I hope, as a woman, you have a *glimpse* of understanding what it’s like to be judged, disrespected, and underestimated because of an inherent trait that you should be so proud of.

I hope you use that understanding to be open-minded and accepting of others.

I hope you know that there are so many good people of all genders and races. Find them and run with them.

I hope you are kind to others, even when they don’t deserve it, because that is your character.

I hope you use your vast intelligence and communication skills to educate others, calmly and respectfully - but with enough force and passion to make people stop and listen once in a while.

I hope you listen, too.

I hope you do better than those before you have done.

I hope you are happy, but I hope you are not oblivious to the pain of this world. I don’t want to see you hurting, ever, but sometimes seeing another’s pain and walking through it with them, even when it hurts, is the best gift you can give to the world.

I hope you always know how much you are loved, and leave little droplets of it everywhere you go.

I hope you change the world.