A Price Too Big To Pay

Society has become injected
With a poison
That slowly strips away
All the individuality
That used surround
The heart that beats inside us.
The uniqueness of each separate person
Protected that flame
That burned bright throughout our lives until we died.

But now that brilliant beacon
That used to shine through our eyes
Has been smudged by the mascara
Lining girls’ visions,
And the tattoo ink
That covers men’s bodies
Has splashed over
Our personalities
So that every person becomes a label,
A slut,
A jock,
A bully,
A victim,
And so many other names
That spew from our televisions
And blast from our headphones
Into our listening ears.

How do we find that originality
That was lost what seems like so long ago?
What happened to raising your kids right,
Teaching them manners,
And respect,
And all the things that really matter,
Like the drive to be excellent-
Not in your parents eyes,
Not in the eyes of your peers,
But when you look in the mirror
You’ll see something you’re proud of,
Something you’re willing to fight for,
Something that makes you more than just a label.

The toxin that infests
This almost dead world of individuals
Has spread from head to toe,
Flesh to bone,
Eating away at our insides
Until our minds finally give way
And cry out in desperation
That we’ll do it:
We’ll become like the rest,
We’ll accept our labels,
And play the part well.
We’ll put on an act
So great that it will be hard to tell,
Hard to distinguish,
The line between performance
And reality,
So that we fool even ourselves
Into thinking that we are what we’re called.

Nowadays so many people don’t matter;
So many individuals have been swept off
The great board of life
To the pile of broken pieces:
The heap of broken souls,
Broken minds,
Broken spirits,
For your spirit is broken
And your mind not your own,
Controlled by the label
That others offered you.

What does it take?
To awaken this world,
Make them realize
That each person has a value,
And that even though
They may not contribute to society
In the way that is expected,
The uniqueness of each human life
Is priceless,
And to take that away
Is a price too big to pay.