Power As Americans

From the beginning

we were over taking nations to “help” them.

Haughty and proud, we stand.

We believe, as people - citizens

that we have control over our lives.

But, who gives you a hand when you’ve fallen?

Is it not the same people that deceived you?

By giving you help, they make you reliant-

dependent on their services.

True, we are better off than some.

But, we are also very unaware-

blinded by words of assurance and safety.

Those in power see us as deer; spooking us will cause chaos.

They use quiet, cautious steps,

to cover up the truly harsh realities.

Feeding us the food that kills us;

leading us, blind, into a false security.

Lies upon lies, line up on the ground,

Like all the dead bodies on the battlefield.

Yet we keep listening and believing!

One day, we have to stop behaving like naïve children

Going along with everything saying,

“It’s just how it is”

Instead, we must morph it into,

“Think before you act”.

If we had just “gone with the flow”

Child labor would still be in play;

Slaves would still be working for nothing but their lives.

Be that one person that changes.

You never know who might be thinking the same as you.

If we had never stood up for our rights,

Imagine where we would be!

Think of Joan of Arc and the freedom riders.

Did they just surrender and follow everyone else?

Think of the warriors and soldiers,

How they fought for their people without hesitation.

People like Alice Paul who refused to eat

until women were given their freedom.

Sitting in solitary, being forced fed and beaten,

yet she still kept fighting.

Thinking of these strong people,

And then tell me things can’t change.

That everything we go through is,

“just how it is.”

One person has the power to change a whole nation

in just one thought.

One plausible idea that that reaches others in such a way

That even the most stubborn of people agree.

One person has the power.