We, the world lost the greatest poet on June 22nd, 2004. His name is Mattie Stepanek. Mattie passed away just before he become 14 years old because of a very bad disease. Mattie started recording his poems to a tape recorder since he was 3 years old, and he wrote a lot of poems and some short stories which are about peace, love and heartsongs. Many of his works won prizes, and he was a best-seller poet. He was a poet, a peacemaker and a hero for the world. Mattie was so special to many people around the world, and his touching messages are still with peoples' hearts. I wish I knew about him much more before. Mattie suffered from a disease called mitochondrial myopathy and dysautonomia, which means that his body did not always work well for breathing, heart rate, body temperature, oxygenation and digestion, so he used some machines to help those works. He had a service dog, Micah. Mattie and his mother use power wheelchairs all the time to save their energy. His mother has an adult form of the disease. His older sister, Katie and older brothers, Stevie and Jamie died during their childhood for the same infant onset disease. Mattie was extremely intelligent, but he was also a typical child. Mattie enjoyed playing Legos, drawings, Pokemon, and studying, and he was afraid of scary movies and needles, but he was not afraid of dying because he knew exactly where he was going. Even though he had been facing a terminal illness for the last 6 years, Mattie had never seen his condition as an obstacle between hm and his goals. He worked with a lot of people to help other sick children as a representative of Children's Hospice International. Also, Mattie loved public speaking. In his role as the National Goodwill Ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), Mattie did a lot of speaking about how the MDA helped kids and adults with neuromuscular diseases. He met a lot of great people, and became friends. One of Mattie's favourite talking was the one with his hero, the former president Jimmy Caeter. Mattie's mission is peacemaking. He said "I've always wanted to be a peacemaker, and I wanted to spread peace in my writing. Violence is not the answer. Nowadays, we're fighting over little things that in the great scheme of life don't matter... Our war on terrorism should be won with words, not bombs."

Since I knew about Mattie, I have loved his works. He looked very cute, innocent boy, but very deep inside. He agreed with the idea that in poems, every single word is important, but not just every word, but every feeling. He said that it is really possible to make peace. Mattie said that even if we have something depressed, there is always something beautiful. "Remember to play after every storm." I really want to show you all of Mattie's poems, but it would be too many, so only 2 are here for you.

For Our World
By Mattie J.T. Stepanek

We need to stop.
Just stop.
Stop for a moment...
Before anybody
Says or does anything
That may hurt anyone eles.
We need to be silent.
Just silent.
Silent for a moment...
Before we forever lose
The blessing of songs
That grow in our hearts.
We need to notice.
Just notice.
Notice for a moment...
Before the future slips away
Into ashes and dust of humility.
Stop, be silent, and notice...
In so many ways, we are the same.
Our differences are unique treasures.
We have, we are, a mosaic of gifts
To nurture, to offer, to accept.
We need to be.
Just be.
Be for a moment...Kind and gentle, innocent and trusting,
Like children and lambs,
Never judging or vengeful
Like the judging and vengeful.
And now, let us pray,
Differently, yet together,
Before there is no earth, no life,
No chance for peace.

September 12, 2001




Heartsong
By Mattie J.T. Stepanek

I have a song, deep in my heart,
And only I can hear it.
If I close my eyes and sit very still
It is so easy to listen to my song.
When my eyes are open and
I am so busy and moving and busy,
If I take time and listen very hard,
I can still hear my Heartsong.
It makes me feel happy.
Happier than ever.
Happier than everywhere
And everything and everyone
In the whole wide world
Happy like thinking about Going to Heaven
When I die.
My Heartsong sounds like this:

I love you! I love you!
How happy you can be!
How happy you can make
The whole world be!

And sometimes it's other
Tunes and words, too,
But it always sings the
Same special feeling to me.
It makes me think of
Jamie, and Katie and Stevie,
And other wonderful things.
This is my special song.
But do you know what?
All people have a special song
Inside their hearts!
Everyone in the show wide world
Has a special Heartsong.
If you believe in magical, musical hearts,
And if you believe you can be happy,
Then you, too, will hear your song.

March 1996




Dear Mattie,

If only I could know about you earlier... Thank you for letting me notice how important peace is. When I studied conflicts and wars at school, it was almost impossible for me to believe that there is still hope in this world because people and things I learned about were so poor, disappointed,and never be able to be enough, but as you say, it's a choice. Peace is really possible, Mattie. Like many other people around the world say, you are so special, and your messages really mean a lot for me too. To me, saying peace is possible does not sound like a dream any more because you told me the 3 realistic ways we should take. We can have peace for inside of our hearts, we can live in peace, not just think it,and we can get involved, and understand. Mattie, this is just so great idea. I will tell my friends about you a lot! Well, how is Heaven? Is that like what you imagined before you went? You know, everyone over here miss you, the greatest hero so much, but yeah, we all hope that you are keeping well there. Write me back if you have some spare time. Remember,your messages always stay with me. Say my hi to Jamie and Katie and Stevie.

Love from youefriend,Yuri