I heard this poem today, I had heard it once before, but this was the first time I ever really got to sit down and think about it for myself.
Your best friend becomes your worst enemy.
Lollipops turn into cigarettes.
The innocent ones turn into sluts.
Homework goes in the trash.
Mobile phones are being used in class.
Detention becomes suspension.
Soda becomes vodka.
Bikes become cars.
Undies turn into g-strings.
Kisses turn into sex.
Remember...
When getting high meant swinging on the playground?
When protection meant wearing a helmet?
When the worst things you could get from boys were cooties?
When dad's shoulders were the highest place on earth?
When your mom was your hero?
When your worst enemies were your siblings?
When race issues were about who ran the fastest?
When war was only a card game?
When the only drug you knew was cough medicine?
When wearing a skirt didn't make you a slut?
When the only things that hurt you were skinned knees?
When goodbyes only meant until tomorrow?
And to think...
We all couldn't wait to grow up.
It's so sad when you really think about it...how our view of the world changes so much. Children really are the only hope for this world, and their simple innocence is often pushed aside. Think of everything that they could teach us. Ignorance is most assuredly bliss. I wish I was a child again sometimes. I wish all I had to worry about was what I had in my lunch box, or how long our lunch time would be, or if that day was ice cream day...or if by some sweet gift of God, we could play dodgeball that day at recess. Now I worry if I'll have the money to afford my lunch each day, or if I will be able to get enough hours to pay my insurance on time without an extension. I wish I knew how it felt to only think of love as something that happened in movies, and not a battlefield where your friends and lovers are casualties. I wish I spent more time enjoying the monkey bars and the slides, because now I only write papers about why gravity exists and the mathematical algebraic formula as to WHY static electricity creates friction to make that damn slide shock me everytime I wore my favorite shorts. It's almost as if it was trying to warn me. When sand castles on the beach were enough for you and your first love, instead of working your entire life to get a middle class mortgage, just so you and your wife have a place to live, on top of a 50% divorce rate, and a 47% foreclosure rate. Is this really what we wanted? When you heard that your friend died...it only meant in a video game. When you were called a cheater, it was only in a video game or on a homework assignment...and when the accuser was usually wrong, not right. When you failed, you could just try again, and when you succeeded, your parents were proud. When someone stole something from you...it was simply a ball or a toy that they could give back. When you couldn't say "bad words" or you would get grounded. Sometimes I wish that I could still get grounded... When "hangover" meant you were hanging over at your friends house, and sleepovers weren't anything for your mother to worry about. When pot was the WORST thing that anyone could do. When we actually thought..."when I'm 18, I'll have it all figured out". What a false sense of security.
It reminds of me a song by Tim McGraw (my cousin) who humorously states in his country swag:
I miss back when…
When a hoe was a hoe
Coke was a coke
And crack is what we were doing
When we were cracking jokes
Back when a screw was a screw
And wind was all that blew
And when you said, “I’m down with that”
It meant you had the flu.
The saddest thing about it all...is that I know that we have not yet reached absolutely zero. We will fall even harder. We will become only more corrupt. I just pray that I am not here to witness it, and that my children will be a resistance. I just pray for the best.
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