When we enter this world, we are new.

We are innocent and righteous;

Naturally accepting with untainted values

Unknowing of the world full of madness.

By the age of ten, the influence has begun.

Some good is taught like manners and kindness;

For some it seems they have received none;

The worst are taught hate- spreading like an illness.

By the age of thirteen it spreads-

From parents to peers, traversing.

The pressure of acceptance in their heads.

Some can even feel their own mouth's coercing.

By the age of eighteen a few get free.

The thoughts in their head more complex,

Now that they choose what to believe-

The others carry on with another's concepts.

During adulthood, the tables turn.

The victim becomes the perpetrator-

Telling others to follow blindly or they'll burn;

Believing that they are truly greater.

The time comes when they become old

Some become wise like the stories had said

They ask for forgiveness, for they were controlled

by the human monsters that infected their heads.

The others still fear the world they despise.

Their heavy hearts cannot be undone.

If only they would've had their own mind;

what amazing things they could have done.

Now, why do I write? Why even try?

Because I've seen this world be torn apart.

I'm tired of just watching it all go by

And I need a change before I depart.

It starts with us, the new generation.

To right histories wrongs and make a difference.

To save ourselves from our own damnation

Of a world where no one ever listens.

Don't let the world inculcate your mind

with what goes against your own understanding.

I promise that you'll never follow blind

If you can find this poem worth heeding.