Positivity is hard when the whole world

Keeps shoving SOMETHING down your throat

corn syrup, drugs, an obligation, a label

And you're passing judgment, and opportunity

And ON, without having changed a thing

And your daughters that you raised

Will have the same thing shoved into them.

Positivity is tough.

But positivity is strong.

Strong like the survivor of rape,

Walking into the woods with a dog

And a new set of karate skills.

Strong like the man

Fleeing social obligations

And joining a choir

With his son.

Positivity is the realization

That they know naught what they do

And that ignorance is not a choice,

And that it is hard to overcome.

Positivity is seeing

The humanity

In the eyes of convicts

And realizing that they too

Have been chewed up and spit out

By the monster they feed.

It’s breathing the same air

As the shrieking orange-blonde in the passenger seat

And helping her

Realize her own humanity.

It’s learning to seek out

The good, the brave

To uphold them, lend to them

Your thoughts and effort

And ignoring

The evils pleading

At your doorbell.

It’s ending the cycles

Using our own tools.

We cannot fight hate with hate.

So Senators, Congressmen,

Republicans, Democrats,

Racists, Sexists,

Homophobes and Misogynists;

To all those who hurt

Because they have been hurt,

And ignore

What they have been taught to ignore;

This world is not your fault.

But it is our responsibility.

Let love grow.

Let freedom ring.