It was the poem seen around the world.
A local teen is enjoying a bit of literary fame this week after an uplifting poem she wrote last year for her 11th-grade class at Beth Rivkah High School in Crown Heights went viral.
Chanie Gorkin, 17, wrote the piece titled “Worst Day Ever?” that seems to give a pessimistic view of the world, but when read backwards — as its author suggests readers do at the end of the poem — it gives a very different take.
Though the poem was entered in a poetry contest and published in a magazine for Orthodox Jewish woman — Gorkin’s family is Lubavitch — the piece didn’t go viral until a man from London tweeted a photo of the poem posted on a London wall on July 22, according to Chabad.org.
— Ronnie Joice (@ronniejoice) July 22, 2015Gorkin said she was inspired to write the poem by the teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, saying he taught that, “when you change your perspective, other things change as well,” she told the Chabad news service.
“I’m really happy that my poem has inspired people. If someone was having a terrible day and this helped them turn it around, then it has all been worth it,” she said.
Since the tweet of the poem was retweeted more than 3,300 times last week, Gorkin’s work has appeared in news stories around the globe, from The Telegraph and Time magazine to local outlets like News 12 Brooklyn.
See below for the text of the poem:
Worst Day Ever?
By Chanie Gorkin
Today was the absolute worst day ever
And don’t try to convince me that
There’s something good in every day
Because, when you take a closer look,
This world is a pretty evil place.
Even if
Some goodness does shine through once in a while
Satisfaction and happiness don’t last.
And it’s not true that
It’s all in the mind and heart
Because
True happiness can be attained
Only if one’s surroundings are good
It’s not true that good exists
I’m sure you can agree that
The reality
Creates
My attitude
It’s all beyond my control
And you’ll never in a million years hear me say
Today was a very good day
Now read it from bottom to top, the other way,
And see what I really feel about my day.
