Voices

We’ve all got a platform,
That’s what they tell us these days.

Some with millions of followers,
And sharing the brands they wear is all they have to say.

15 years old, with grown- people chasing after their Instagram squares,
Not realizing, only true wisdom comes from life’s gift of aging layers.

What do the teens of our world crave?
That is the motive when revenue is the road to be paved.

We’re painting a picture of abundance in all the wrong ways,
Feeding on the young minds that could bring us better days.

We inundate their minds with violence, travel, cars, and money,
So what they’re searching for might as well be akin to the Easter Bunny.

We build this facade of what life is and will be,
They think if they get that snapshot in a Lambo, there’s nothing left to see.

Instead of people using their voice,
There’s degression and analyzing of the adolescent’s weaker choice.

What will their young, fickle mind choose?
Instead of building them up and guiding them, we push them down like we’ve got nothing to lose.

We isolate them, but distract them by telling them to speak up,
They just keep scrolling, scared of the world they’ll notice if they lift their head up.

If we want change and freedom and love all- around,
We’ve got to get back down to the basics of one another and what we lost needs to be found.

We’ve got to be the ones setting the example and having teens reach for a substantial life,
We’ve got to remind them that all the money and selfies won’t protect them from life’s strife.

We’ve got to teach resilience and how to sit under the trees,
To feel the pages of a book between their fingers and the humbleness acquired when life knocks them to their knees.

They need to know that the hot desert air will cleanse their lungs,
And that submersing into the crisp ocean will momentarily pause the damage that has been done.

They need to know how to reach for the roots of life!

So, instead of using an undeveloped brain to get an extra comma in your bank account,
Please stop and remember the voice you have and what life is really about.

Adolescents need us.
The world needs us.

Let’s give them what they deserve.

Poems and EssaysSkye Schanzer