You dont know

You Don’t Know Chautauqua

You don’t know Chautauqua.

You don’t need her.

You don’t like her.

And that’s okay.

Because somehow…

you’re always watching her.

That’s okay too.

You pretend you love her,

but you can’t…

because you haven’t learned

to love yourself.

You pretend you know her story,

but you’ve never opened the book.

You’ve judged the cover,

without ever checking the shelf.

You can’t understand her motives,

because your own are out of alignment.

You’ll use her for a moment,

just to convince yourself

that somehow…

you’ve won.

But you don’t know Chautauqua.

She’s the woman

who learned to stand on her own.

She’ll still call you “Mister.”

She’ll still wish you well,

even when you were wrong.

But you don’t know Chautauqua.

She left her doors open

to the wrong people.

She gave chances

where she should’ve given boundaries.

Every single day,

she fights to become

the equal of the woman

she knows she’s destined to be.

So before you speak her name…

learn her story.

Because you don’t know Chautauqua.

You only know

the version

you created in your own mind.