The Respect is Lacking

By: Kafyia A. Robinson

Dear fellow members of this generation,

Respect, respect, respect, everybody wants respect.

Will guess what, respect isn’t given,

it’s earned.

And in the 17 years I lived so far, I ain’t seen that many earn it.

If you want respect, do something with your life.

Many teens today want to be treated as adults

but when I ask my peers what’s one thing they actually work for,

They tell me all kinds of things

but what they don’t tell me

is that they are working to earn respect.

I say to them, make something out of yourself if you want to be respected.

Nobody gave me anything.  The respect I have, I earned it.

Just like MLK, Da Vinci, Roosevelt,

And Malcolm X.

Let’s not forget the women,

Parks, Monroe, Malala,

and queen bee, herself

Beyonce.

These people have worked for the respect they got.

They work for everything,

they ain’t begging for nothing.

I ask you, what have you done to earn respect?

How have you shown respect?

And how can you pass this on to the next?

Because as we are,

we won’t go far

Neither will those who come after us.

Listen to my words and understand we need to change

Not just for ourselves but everyone around us

and those who come after us.

I want to live in a world that I can be proud of,

Don’t you?