Helplessness: “(adj.) Unable to help oneself”

No.

Helplessness is when your father

Absolutely convicting in his sermons and so sure about where he stands in his faith

Is betrayed by the members of his church in its disbandment

Leaving him lost with nowhere else to go

Helplessness is when your mother

Who seemingly can never stop smiling

Finally breaks down with tears streaming down her face

Murmuring about how hard it is to support a family of four by herself

Helplessness is when your three best friends may leave you at any moment

One who constantly orders you food

And says everything is “on her”

Confessing she is filling out applications to transfer out

Since this school is too expensive

Another who makes you cry with laughter

Over all the strange things she says

Revealing this may be her last semester at this school

To make it easier on her single mother raising two children

And the last one who we tease about having ADHD

Because of her short attention span that always amuses us

Crying that her older hates her for going away from home

While she’s stuck at a community college to save money

Helplessness is when your younger brother

Who should be enjoying his last two years of high school

Has to spend all his spare time studying to get a full ride somewhere

Because you didn’t study hard enough when you were in his place

Helplessness is when you can’t do anything to help the ones you love…

…Except to study (even if it kills me) and do well in school

To work hard and be good at what I want to do in the future

To strive to be the best support system I can be for those around me

And to pray in full faith that God will make things right in the end