Standing Up
Sometime ago, you had to keep quiet.
You had to shove it inside,
take what they gave you,
not make noise.
Don't make waves,
don't make eye contact,
don't make trouble where there ain't none.
Just sit down, shut up, and stay in your place.
That time doesn't exist any more.
This time, you can rise up,
let it out.
Let your ideas blossom,
speak your mind,
bare your soul,
kick up an entire storm over the ocean
if you feel it.
To glare back, to stir up trouble,
to cause all the problems you want.
Sure.
You might hurt some feelings.
You might bruise an ego here and there.
You might step on a few toes.
You might break some hearts along the way.
You may have your feelings hurt,
or your toes mashed,
or your ego bruised,
or your own heart broken.
But now is not the time to worry about that.
Now's a time to take action,
make mistakes, and fight the oppression.
There's a crowd of people in the way,
huddling at the bottom of the ladder of sucess,
and you got to push them away to start climbing.
It's your turn to lead the fight.
Now is not the time to wimp out.
Wipe away those tears. Strap on that armor.
Hold up your head. Pick up that sword.
And come join us in the battle.