Victim
Survivor

Two words
Could describe two people
Or two different versions
                                               of the same person

Victim
What others made you
What some continue
To make themselves

This doesn’t happen in a vacuum
Without reason
Without incentive

Victims garner attention
Sympathy
Kindness

Everyone needs attention
Sympathy
Kindness

But eventually
The spectacle fades
Attention wanes
The world moves on

And the victim
Has no new identity
On which to stand

Survivor
What you make yourself
You may be given this label by others
But only you can define
what it means

Each day
Each moment

Ultimately a choice needs to be made
To live in the past
Be what others made you

Or live in the future
Be the vision you make
Of yourself

Survivor
Victim

Two words
Interlocked
Two very different realities
Inextricably linked

Which do you choose?

Each day
Each moment

Your choice yesterday
Need not determine
Your choice tomorrow

We are not given a choice about the first identity

Don’t relinquish your choice
To embrace the second
To be self-defined