You say I’m Too Young, Too Young to be a Feminist
Too Young to know my own Sexuality
Too Young to be Depressed
Too Young to Hate
Too Young to Protest
Too Young to be an Activist
Too Young, Too Stupid, Too Naive, and you are right. I am too young
Too Young to be scared of bullets Ricocheting through my school embedding themselves into my fellow classmates and having to watch as the life from my girlfriends once joyful face flickers out, now knowing I can never apologize for that fight we had, now knowing I can never hug her again, knowing I can never say “I love you” and see the smile on her face when I say it
Too Young to be scared of being raped by a man while I walk down the street after getting out of my summer job because I can feel his eyes watching me knowing I should have waited for someone to finish their shift so we could walk together because now if something happens to me its my fault but I just wanted to get home to work on my truck
Too Young to be scared of finding my friend dead in a sticky pool of his own blood because slitting his wrists and watching the blood flow was better than living or finding his body cold and lifeless on the bathroom floor with candy colored pills scattered around him and stuffed down his throat because he would rather be In a daze than fight the torment, and I couldn’t make it in time to help
Too Young to be scared of seeing a familiar face on the news because Jon was black and looked older than he really was and the white middle aged cop shot in “self-defense” even though Jon was innocent and unarmed or because Elias was Muslim and was carrying a “suspicious” bag and was shot and later died because they thought he was a “terrorist” when Elias just wanted to get home and give his sister the Jewelry box he just bought her
Too Young to be scared of finding my LGBT friends killed, abandon, or sent off to some camp because all they wanted was to be loved and accepted but instead all they found was hate because they were “disgusting sinners” who were just “confused” and when Luca finally got back from camp she couldn’t even remember her own fucking name
Too Young to be sobbing with such lose and grief over people so dear to me who were killed and died Too Young because cries for help were “fake” because they were Too Young to know “real” pain
Too Young to be Scarred, Bruised, Bloody and beaten by a war that I did not start or choose to fight in
You say I am Too Young and you are not wrong I am Too Young. Too Young for
HOMOPHIBA
RACISM
SEXISM
RAPE
SELF HARM
SUICIDE
GUN VILONCE
and
SCHOOL SHOOTINGS
To be Normal to me, I should not be so desensitized by this violent Reality
So yes, I am Too Young but you cannot blame me for my hyper awareness of our reality
My generation was born with information at are fingertips and we have been told to “sit still” and “be quiet” because the adults are speaking
But you had your chance it is now our turn to speak and our turn to fight because our rage Is fire and with every rigged breath, we take our lungs torn by all the hate and misery that is ingrained so deeply into our society
You say we are “too sensitive” because we are “hormonal teenagers” who “can’t control our emotions”
But you can no longer invalidate are calms as we yell for change because the death of are classmates and the blood of our friends has paved the path for this revolution
Your generation may have fought battles but my generation will be the one to win the War, My generation will be the one to bring peace and change
Because we grew up in a hating world spiraling into darkness and death but dying was never our biggest fear, watching the world burn around us was expected but we fully intend to repair the damage you have so carelessly done
My generation Will be the one to rise from the ashes