Jordan Nichols is a 14 year old boy who wrote a poem for fun. But after sharing it with his brother Derek, the elder sibling came to the realisation that the poem was in fact incredibly profound and wise. He promptly took a photo and shared it to his Twitter page. Since posting it online in February it has received 140,000 retweets and been talked about all over the web.
What makes this so special is that this 14 year old managed to construct a deceptively simple poem that only reveals its true message after you’ve read it once, and then a second time in reverse.
Read the poem once through first…
Our generation will be known for nothing.
Never will anybody say,
We were the peak of mankind.
That is wrong, the truth is
Our generation was a failure.
Thinking that
We actually succeeded
Is a waste. And we know
Living only for money and power
Is the way to go.
Being loving, respectful, and kind
Is a dumb thing to do.
Forgetting about that time,
Will not be easy, but we will try.
Changing our world for the better
Is something we never did.
Giving up
Was how we handled our problems.
Working hard
Was a joke.
We knew that
People thought we couldn’t come back
That might be true,
Unless we turn things around
Now read the poem again… backwards.
Unless we turn things around
That might be true,
People thought we couldn’t come back
We knew that
Was a joke.
Working hard
Was how we handled our problems.
Giving up
Is something we never did.
Changing our world for the better
Will not be easy, but we will try.
Forgetting about that time,
Is a dumb thing to do.
Being loving, respectful, and kind
Is the way to go.
Living only for money and power
Is a waste. And we know
We actually succeeded
Thinking that
Our generation was a failure.
That is wrong, the truth is
We were the peak of mankind.
Never will anybody say,
Our generation will be known for nothing.
Just by reading the poem in the opposite direction, the entire sentiment surrounding it took a complete turn from despair to hope. Jordan’s wisdom and positive outlook is worthy of admiration – we think this young man has a bright future ahead of him.