Dear Future Generation.
*Inspired by the prompt ‘The World We/You will Leave Behind’*
Dear future generation,
We messed up.
In this book of life, we often cut the pages that contain crude content
Replacing archaic qualities like kindness and empathy with a lack of manners and vanity,
You see,
Love no longer has a common scent,
Instead, it is a spiked drink composed of mendacity, manipulation and lust
So that when that intoxication disappears, you feel lovelorn,
Used, then thrown aside, like a stuffed animal that no longer comforts you when you are scared,
I used to wish that I would meet no more broken people,
Then I realized,
We are all broken, with no instruction manual passed down from prior generations
On how to fix the errors of our past ways,
We treat manners and decency with an air of skepticism
Since we fear that these are shown as the surface that hides an ulterior motive,
Humility is an acquired skill, attained by experience
So, tell me, when will we celebrate life, instead of accomplishments?
We value things and use people
Yet, when they die, we cry, since we no longer have those human resources
Is it really that, or are we too afraid to express what we really feel?
We are all actors on different stages
So, when the masks fall off
What lies beneath, like a stripped version of a beautiful song, are
The cracked fragments, when placed together, form humanity.
Dear future generation,
We messed up.
I am a young, black man who has seen hurt,
So, in the following years which constitute my life’s expectancy, allow me to be different,
You see, in the first 8 months of 2020, approximately 164 of us were gunned down,
Still, they don’t say our names
Since that U-S doesn’t feel as if we are a part of the United States,
One hundred and sixty-four black mothers cried, and those that did not, worried
Worried that their son or daughter may be next,
They are either pulled over, subjected to incorrect search warrants or
Just perceived as dangerous,
Yet that is only one side of the coin,
What about the other side where we kill ourselves?
We speak of unity, yet we flaunt our privileges over the heads of the less fortunate
We speak of unity, yet we exist separately,
I have seen some of us cry over life’s tribulations,
Tormented by financial instability and the inability to provide for our families,
Evicted, we become insomniacs
Kings, struggling to find proper queens,
So tell me, future generation,
Will you listen to us?
Dear future generation,
Let me talk to you for a second.
Fifty six years after the world warred with itself, here we go again
However, instead of using guns and atomic bombs, we fight over a needle,
Segregated into two groups:
Vaccinated vs unvaccinated, where the latter category is treated like lepers,
Stigmatized, so that when they get sick,
The basic human right of healthcare shouldn’t be afforded to them,
If evolution is defined as the change in characteristics of a species over time,
Then specify the timeframe where we got so petty in our thinking,
These people, who are still our brothers and sisters, now fight alone,
So that when one of them dies, the main highlight is their unvaccinated state,
Reputations tarnished,
Jobs threatened, where sometimes even the chance of an interview is diminished,
So tell me future generation,
How will you improve on the world that we will leave behind?
