A Teen's Rant

We've been told life is much more than a game,

we should stay focus and know our aim,

remember those who fought and overcame.

But at my age, you really think I am to blame,

for these conditions, the fault I should claim,

when it's not I who should be ashame,

just look at the deed upon which I must sign my name.

Look at the violence all around, abject poverty to be found,

to war we seem always to be bound, but upon me you need to

frown, so I am dumbfound as to how you assign me

responsibilty for society's battleground.

I'm told I'm selfish and I don't care,

just be quiet and do my share,

so what if life's not fair.

Well, I think you need to pull up a chair,

listen to some things you need to hear.

Now I know to yours my mind don't compare,

but when I got here, pollution was already in the air.

You think because I'm young I can't conceive,

of all the goals you desire me to achieve,

but some things are too hard to perceive,

while still others are meant to deceive.

That's why I feel it's you being naive,

when this legacy of despair that you leave,

is what you want me to simply roll up my sleeve

and fight to believe!

OK! Granted, sometimes my attitude is bad,

and oh yeah, the way the youth act today

makes you sad.

Guess what? I consider all the chances you

guys had, and as I look around it makes me

mad, to see families with moms but no dad,

this constant compaign to live without God,

so how else do I act when you're really the cad.

I do hear what you say, I listen when you preach.

I know what I have to learn, so I take in what you teach.

I'm a person who has dreams I want to reach,

and I have the determination to strive for each.

Don't give all this freedom and don't expect me to run free.

Don't let me make my own decisions and don't like who I chose to be.

Don't give the right to speak and expect me to hold my tongue

Don't tell me I'm a child and then forbid me to act young.

Don't put a dark cloud over my head and blame me for the gloom.

Don't lay at my feet your problems, when I got here I met the doom.

Don't tell me to think what I like, then get mad when I assume

Thanks to a lack of parental control, I learn most things in my room.

You tell me I need to be, all I can to succeed,

talk about how hard my ancestors worked, so take heed.

However, in pursuit of material gain, your actions tend to mislead,

negating the fact that a negative plant grows from a negative seed.

It's not that I don't hear you when you speak,

of course it's knowledge that I seek, I thirst to be unique.

Tell me how can I be strong when the foundation you build is weak.

The tears my eyes now leak, are for you for not reaching your peak.

You puff, puff, pass, and then "no drugs," you say,

they will lead you astray, but why is it okay,

that I watch everyday, as the world sinks further into

moral decay and come what may, you tell me to do it

your way, as I sit and watch the games you play.

Listen, there's a reason that I'm here, a reason for my birth,

so I search hard to discover my worth.

Yet, after many more years than I on this earth,

you still choose oppression to be your girth.

I know I need an education, I'm no fool,

so I agree, we kids need to stay in school.

I'm sorry, but that system I have to ridicule.

It's not easy to study and follow the rule,

cause the politics there are a major cesspole.

I listen while society screams, "youth of today have no ambition, no dreams."

Wanna tell me how am I suppose to have plans and schemes,

as I watch those that reign supreme, make a mockery of their regime,

leaving me to float down a pissed-filled stream of low self-esteem.

Your double standards tell me I'm a child,

yet grown enough for you to defile,

assign me a few alphabets and feed me pills so I can be mild,

then to make me smile, buy all the things that are in style,

and this is how you keep me happy, while you run wild.

Here's what you need to know, I was brought into this mess,

I'm not here to be a pawn in your game of chess,

it's not my job to take on your stress,

from me you want more, yet you still give less,

then wonder what heeds my progress

Keep screaming for that elusive respect,

that your mind has yet to connect,

when it's from me you come to expect,

and it's you I see as the usual suspect,

because you are the cause and now you

hate the effect!

This is the life you gave me, not one I reached out and took.

I have only been given a page, you guys wrote the book.

So if the way the youth act has really got you shook,

I'm with MJ, it's the man in the mirror at whom you best look!

MARJORIEJOYCELESLIE

07/20/09