Gunshots fire
Telephones ring
Crowds become mobs
Children scream
Why do we choose to ignore it?

The "American Way" is
So inwardly, selfishly focused
And yet within our own little world
Racial tensions are stretched to the limit
Gender roles still exist
Little girls are told they are not pretty enough
And never will be
Little boys are told that if they cry
They are weak
Why do we do this?

Then, peak across the globe
27 million slaves
Yes, they do exist

150 years after
The most "advanced" country in the world
Eradicated it
We can and choose to
Do nothing to stop this epidemic.

Think of your daughter
If you have one, or ever hope to have one
Consider a man who is significantly older than she
Buying and selling her as though she is a toy
To entertain older men
And their sick and twisted desires.

Ten years from now
I want my daughters to be safe
Fifteen years from now
I want my sons to know
That women are humans too.

Twenty years from now
I want my children to feel accepted
No matter the color of their skin pigments

Twenty five years from now
I do not want my kids to think
That money can solve their problems
I do not want them to be as sick of hearing
How rapidly our unemployment rate has risen
Even for the most well educated of those among us.

I am not okay
With the standard
That my predecessors have established for me

I do not accept
The path that people have paved in the past
And they expect me to walk down it rigidly
As if it is my role

I am *******
That this world is failing
To give us, the underdogs, the outcasts
The ones who are "too young to understand"
A fighting chance at not only surviving
But truly living a fulfilling life

So aren't you?
Our children deserve a better world
A better path
So it's time we pave them one.