I am teenager.
I am often confused.
I am often rebellious.

I look at the world,
And the adults,
That
    Look
        Down
            On
                   Me.
I listen to what they tell me.
I listen to their hypocrisy.

And I truly believe,
That they are insane.

I truly believe
That birds know everything.

So do trees.

So do rocks.

Because these beings
Are the only beings

That listen.

The wind carries
Messages.

And where the wind can not go,
The water helps out.

No matter what,

Nature is communal.
It is humble.
It is brilliant.
It is all knowing.

Society
Is not like this.
Society
Pretends to know
Everything.

It pretends to be perfect.

It pretends to have morals.

But then
“Being human”
Becomes an excuse
To be a hypocrite.

War.
I read on the news
That someone
Was arrested for a homicide.

I read on the news
That someone was arrested
For a hate crime.
For shooting down
A gay bar.

Everyone was horrified.
FIlled with a sense of anger
Fear and
Abandonment.
Justice
Became
Imperative.

This is America
This is inexcusable.
Some said it was okay.
It was against
The lord’s wishes
To be gay.
Or lesbian.
Or trans-gender.
Or bi.

But war.
An entire Middle Eastern community
Has been bombed.
1,000 dead.
500 missing.
Another 500 injured.

But it is okay.
ISIS was in the area.
The ruler pissed us off.

1,000 people dead.
500 people missing.
Another 500 people injured.

A soldier kills someone in war
And it is American.

Someone kills someone
Who does not share their beliefs
And that person is
A murderer.
They are sick.

Well aren’t we all sick
Then?

It has taken
Less than sixteen years
For me
To see the reality of society.

The more
Money.
The less
Dark your skin is.
The more privilege you have.

You are not safe.
If you are not privileged
At birth.

I have heard
That a rich man
Raped a girl.

That man did not go to prison.
He was barely in the news.

I heard
That a less rich man
Raped a girl.

That man went to prison for 50 years.

I heard
That a poor man
A black man
Raped a girl.

That man went to prison for life.

But what if these
Simple adjectives
Did not define people.

What if people
Were people.

What if that
Asian woman,

Was
Just
A
Woman?

What if the black rapist
Was
Just
a rapist?

Justice would be served
For a rapist.
Not a white one.
Not a black one.
Not a rich one.

My sister is Bi.
She is almost 18.
Her girlfriend is really nice.

We used to go to a
Conservative school.
My sister’s ex-boyfriend
And his friends
Found it amusing to bully
people they did not like.
Toilet paper their houses.
Spread rumors.

They recently started harassing
My sister with texts and phone calls.
She is tough,
And was able to ignore them.
But she still cried all day.

I had a Mormon friend.
After she found out about my sister
She wouldn’t talk to me.

What I don’t understand
Is why the sexual orientation
Of another
person
Matters.

At my first job interview,
They did not ask if I was into guys.
Whether I thought guys or girls were attractive
Did not change how fast I made tacos.

It wouldn’t have poisoned
The tacos
If I had been gay.

All the customer cared about
Was the tacos.
That it was made in 30 seconds
And had the right ratio of
Cheese:meat:lettuce:tomatoes

What if the gay person
Was the person.

People are insane.
People gloat equality.
But society lacks equity.
Egalitarianism is not possible
Until people are people.

Where another person’s culture
Is theirs to embrace.
Not everyone else’s to judge.

Because people are people.
They are gay
Straight
Black
White
Rich
Poor
Disabled
Driven
Lazy
Happy
Sad
Crazy
Sane.

They are people.
And gay
Straight
Black
White
Rich
Poor
Disabled
Driven
Lazy
Happy
Sad
Crazy
Sane
People
Can all make tacos.

I truly believe
That birds know everything.

So do trees.

So do rocks.

Because these beings
Are the only beings

That listen.

The wind carries
Messages.

And where the wind can not go,
The water helps out.

No matter what,

Nature is communal.
It is humble.
It is brilliant.
It is all knowing.

Nature exists as an ecosystem.

When the ecosystem
Does not work together
The ecosystem will crumble.

When an invasive plant takes over,
And kills off the other plants,
The ecosystem is ruined.

Soon, the animals that relied
On the balance, are now dying off.

The animals that relied on those animals start to die off.

That is why Nature relies on listening.
Listening to what it’s surroundings’
Needs are.

Not listening to selfish greed.

Because without this community,
The ecosystem falls.
In the ecosystem,
everything works together.

It doesn’t matter
What color the deer is.
As long as the deer lived it’s life
And then moved on,
Having
Contributed
To this ecosystem.

It doesn’t matter
What tree the squirrel chose to live in,
As long as it did what it needed to do
To survive,
And contributed
To this ecosystem.

Because that is what the ecosystem needs to live.

At sixteen,
I find that humans
don’t listen to Nature.
Even though
We all share this planet.

Once that invasive plant has killed off
It’s competition,
And thus the rest of the ecosystem,
There is nothing left to rule.

So,
At sixteen,,
I have decided to be blind.
I have decided to be blind
Like nature is blind.

I have decided to blind
In that
I am communal.
I am humble.
I am brilliant.
And I am
All knowing
To the needs
And characters
Of those around me.

I have decided to be blind in that
I view everything in terms
Of character.

I am blind to
Race
Sex
Religion (or lack of)

When it does not affect the
Taco.

When it does not affect the ecosystem.

At sixteen,

I refuse to be a hypocrite.

I refuse
to
be
             insane.
I do not refuse,
However,
To be nature.