Living Dreams

A Poem about America

Over one million men and women have died for the United States of America in all of the wars that we have been involved in.

They did not die so that some punk kid can sit down during the pledge at school because they “hate America.”

But that’s the least of our problems; because those men and women did not die so that this country can be where it is today.

They did not die so that people can be shot and killed for their race.

They did not die so that people cannot get married because of who they want to be married to.

They did not die so that one gender can make less money for the same amount of work.

They did not die so that one person on one side of the country can decide whether or not a stranger on the other side can get an abortion to save her life.

They did not die so that children can be bullied into silence and suicide.

They did not die so that our lives are ruled by money.

They did not die so that our president can say “Americans are too small-minded to govern their own affairs.”

They did not die so that rape can be considered “a choice” and so that “no” can mean anything other than “no.”

They did not die so that people can be taken advantage of and the second they stop giving up their personhood, they are considered rude and selfish.

They did not die so that teenagers can be bullied by that billion dollar industry that profits off of their insecurities.

They did not die so that Americans can have a lower minimum wage than the rest of the world yet still pay the highest health care costs.

They did not die so that a man being domestically abused is not as important as a woman being abused.

They did not die so that high school students can have the same anxiety levels as mental patients in the fifties; so that the two days we have a week to relax are spent doing homework.

They did not die so that the grass is always greener on the other side while we sit in yellow straw that scratches at our skin.

They did not die so that a woman telling you to stop with the catcalls doesn’t matter but when another man says it, you stop.

They did not die so that people who don’t wear makeup can shame people who do and the other way around.

They did not die so that by some logics, playing Russian Roulette is safer than being a woman.

They did not die so that men only regret their past mistakes when they drying their daughter’s tears for the same reason.

They did not die so that our clothes are more important than things such as: our education, our accomplishments, and even our life.

They did not die so that animals can be abused.

They did not die so that second graders can be killed because a gun landed in the wrong hands.

They did not die so that kids can have panic attacks lying in hospital beds because of school.

They did not die so that we can wake up afraid and go to sleep afraid.

They did not die so that sexual harassment is meant to be taken as a compliment.

They did not die so that we have to fear the police.

They did not die so that every instance of a man attacking a woman for not giving him her phone number is somehow her fault. Men are never responsible because their sexual urges are considered manly.