Michelle, one of our Swansea Commissioners, wrote this poem as a reflection on the Economics for All residential she took part in earlier this year.

A wonderful society happens when the state…

…sees people not as problems to manage, but as lives to uplift.

When it replaces punishment with care, and silence with listening.

When it breaks the cycle of poverty not with pity, but with justice—

and never lets shame be policy.

A society flourishes when people in our community…

…refuse to look away.

When we greet each other without assumption.

When we remember that dignity can’t be means-tested.

When we build a culture where no one has to hide their struggle to be treated with respect.

My contribution to a wonderful society is…

To speak up when silence is easier.

To make sure stories of poverty are not told about people, but by them.

To keep holding hope—and to never accept shame as the cost of survival.

To find out more about the Swansea Poverty Truth Commission, visit their website at https://www.scvs.org.uk/swansea-ptc