The Sound of Listening

 

I spent my formative years shouting

Shrieking into the wind

Screaming my desperate pleas to be heard

Because I was horrified by the sterilized world I was in

I was selfish

I was scared because I couldn’t understand the silence

I sought out those willing to speak

I sought out those willing to say

There is something terribly wrong

We flailed about trying to figure out

What we could do

Too many of us got so lost

That we chose being numb

Over trying to change the world

Then we grew up

Our passion for changing the status quo

Became kids who ended up domesticated

‘And the generation who refused to take sides

Quickly divided

Knowing that the side they had chosen was right

Social media emerged

Cute kitten memes

And political propaganda

Then it grew

Racism

Sexism

Homophobia

Xenophobia

The leaders of this country engaging in Twitter wars

#AllLivesMatter

#HilaryforPresident

#Trumpforpresident

#Idontunderstandtheissues

The comment sections are wars fought

Behind the screen of anonymity

Where we let the worst of ourselves

Type the hatred

As we all fall in line

Everyone wants to tell their story

Their one sided story

They complain that the other side refuses

To consider any side but their own

In this endless static

There is only noise

Because the one thing I am yet to hear

Is the sound of listening

In my youth

I begged for someone to speak

I begged for these problems to no longer be ignored

I never predicted that talking about them

Would divide everyone

Into us against them

I never predicted that we would

All forget that we are human

And unity is our greatest power

But the powers that be know that

And they divide us so that they may conquer

I miss the naivete of my youth

Back when I thought that these things would never happen

In my generation

So here I sit

I have taped my mouth shut

Because no one is listening

They are not even speaking

They are attacking

We are at war

But we are our own

Enemy