Hurt Feelings

by Mary Beth Magee

Did I hurt your feelings

When I called out your bigotry

Image credit: Benjamin Balázs on Unsplash

And petty narrow-mindedness?

It was not my intention,

Although your actions and policies

Have hurt the feelings of many.

Your hateful rhetoric has damaged

The dignity of innumerable people.

No, my intent was not to injure you

But to educate you, enlighten you in the hope

You were acting out of ignorance and not actual

hate.

I hoped to show you the other side of the road,

Where people come in different shades

And different languages and different faiths

And still have value.

They may have differences you see

(And choose to use as a weapon),

But they are all human beings,

Worthy of respect, worthy of tolerance,

Worthy of their own place in the world.

Think for a moment on this:

If you were receiving the treatment you dish out,

How would you feel?

How high and mighty would you be then?

Haters have such little hearts, such small minds

And such huge egos!

I've been on the other side.

I've been called names and sneered at,

Put down as subhuman, labeled things which

were untrue.

The tables have shifted a bit.

Bullies like you have chosen other targets.

But I remember how it feels.

I remember the pain. I still bear the scars.

I will not let you do these things to someone else

Without standing up and saying something.

I didn't act to hurt your feelings.

I acted to try to touch your heart, if you have

one.

Someday, opinions will turn again

And you may be the next target.

***

Mary Beth Magee

Mary Beth Magee has been writing prose and poetry for as long as she can remember, with an aim to uplift, illuminate, and inspire. Her work has appeared in local, regional, and national periodicals of both professional and nonprofessional nature as well as her own books and numerous anthologies. She lives in south Mississippi and serves as the Mississippi Poetry Society's 2025 Poet of the Year. She is a mother and grandmother.