“What were things like when you were young, What were people like”

“Let me tell you my young friend,
Things were different when I grew up,
Men were men, women were women,
There were a few gays but no one cared one way or the other,
It was about how you were not who you were,
People should remember that nowadays,
People were different when I grew up,
We’d never seen anyone that wasn’t white,
It was exciting and different when we started to see new people,
Not what we were used to,
I think it’s amazing that people want to be who they are,
They should be free to be themselves,
Things were just different when I grew up,
We didn’t care for fancy names and new things,
We were happy to have shoes on our feet and food in our bellies,
I heard someone was killed for their sports shoes,
I don’t get it,
Shoes ?
Things really were different when I grew up,
We’d leave our doors unlocked without a care,
I think we were so grateful for what we did have that we didn’t stop to think about what we didn’t have,
We would wait for things to come,
Not like today where everyone wants things yesterday,
So busy thinking of what they want I think they’ve forgotten what they have,
No one seems to live in the present,
They don’t want to talk to me,
They’d rather talk to a stranger in another country,
I suppose I’m the same,
Living in the past,
But things were different in the past,
We were never prejudiced,
Why would we of been,
We had not much to offer and not much to lose,
It’s a new thing,
The fear and the bullying,
The greed and the violence,
I think a lot of people have gone mad,
If you keep showing people nice shiny things they’ll want them,
Then if you tell them it’s not shiny anymore,
They’ll want a new one,
And if they can’t afford a new one ,
Well,
We were better off without all the new shiny things,
Things weren’t so shiny back then,
Maybe it made it easier for us,
Too much choice isn’t always a good thing,
Most of us were good people though but we did have our bad,
But there was enough good to deal with it,
I think the balance has shifted somewhat,
Then there’s this social media your all obsessed with,
Giving the bad people a mask to hide behind,
It’s a shame,
Things were more honest back then,
All these technical media things are amazing but it’s changed people,
I think it gives them power to control a lot more stuff,
It’s a lot of pressure,
I wouldn’t want all that responsibility,
I think that’s why i struggle now,
Because I remember a better time,
When people were generally better,
The world was so different back then,
This isn’t  my world anymore,
I often wish I was back then.
I've not long left though then I can rest,
Maybe go back the and see my  friends,
Thanks for asking and listening though,
It doesn’t happen much at my age,
I hope you do well,
Good luck my young friend.”