what do they mean when they say “make a difference”

as if i could go my entire life without changing anything

when the new horizons spacecraft flew past jupiter

catching ahold of its gravity like a rope to fling it towards the stars

it slowed the planet’s orbit by a fraction of a second

and days on jupiter will always be that much shorter

people will always tell stories

and whether they tell mine or not

i will leave my marks here on the earth

not like messages scrawled in sharpie on the wall

I was here

announcing their presence to uncaring strangers

i will be one of many voices in the crowd

and i am happy i will never have to stand there alone

i will leave my handprints on the hearts of friends and strangers

smiles and i love yous and messages scrawled on pins and stickers

i am content to be the girl with the feminist t-shirt that you see in the hall

i am happy to be the friend who always tries her best to say the right thing, even when she’s not sure what it is

i will play as large or as small a role as the world has picked out just for me

maybe i will not start a movement

but together we will end it

we will be the ones they write about in history books

not i, but we

because my story is just a part of our story and her story and their story and history

and maybe there will be people who tell me i cannot move mountains

but i will laugh and say, i can move whole planets

i will be like new horizons

moving so quickly that my mere presence causes worlds to shift

and as far as legacies go

i think i could do worse than that