curlz101:

TW for many things

21st Century Histroy

When they teach 21st Century History,
Will it be a subject they enjoy,
Will the disinterested lean forward in their chairs,
eyes alight with the controversy,
Pulled in by the drama,
Or will the brightest sag into their seats,
Too bored to even try to care,
Will even the teachers be enthusiastic?
Will they gesture wildly,
Get that fascinated gleam in their eye,
It is in human nature to want to be remembered,
But I think of what we will be remembered for

When they teach 21st Century History,
have you ever wondered what they will teach them?
Will they teach them of the technology,
how we jumped from advance to advance with giant leaps,
like a frog from lily pad to lily pad,
Will they teach them about Africa,
How they looked up above the equator,
palms open,
and only crumbs fell out,
Will they tell them how the rich yelled about how full their stomachs were,
And the poor looked up,
Caressing swollen bellies that are just full of air,
Will they show them pictures,
of how we poured oil into the ocean like gravy on a Sunday roast,
How we gutted the Earth of everything it had,
Like hollowing out a pumpkin to carve into a human Jack-O-Lantern,
How we took away our own planets breathing equipment,
creating a long scar where nature once was,
Will they tell them what they made women,
Their bodies an advertisement for sexual pleasure,
A mess of ‘we did not say yes’
Will they teach them all,
That they must say yes first,
Will they teach them not to grab,
Will they show them what we did to ourselves to feel beautiful,
Will they cover up the mess of cobwebbed lines that criss-crossed the
wrists of too many,
Will they speak of Afganistan, Irac,
Will it all be hushed by a pool of secrecy,
Will they ever know of the Rwandan Genocide,
Chernobyl,
Will they learn from our intricate tapestry of mistakes,
that we have left ready for them to read,
Will they tell them about the children,
How they died every second,
Starvation,
Murder,
Dehydration,
Malaria,
Their own two hands, a gun and no future,
Will they tell them how many died that way?
Will they be able to comprehend,
How we stuffed big hearted people into categories that didn’t fit them,
chipping away at them until they fit where we wanted them too,

Will they tell them `Society killed the teenager`
`and the poor,
and those who didn’t fit quite right,
but they mostly killed themselves`
Would they be horrified,
Disbelieving,
Could they imagine an Earth where some couldn’t marry who they loved,
because someone in a suit said they couldn’t,
Would they feel sick
That some people were excluded,
Because of the colour of their skin,
Because they believed in 5 Gods not 1 almighty,
Will they tell them how the towers fell,
Will they tell of the days we drew our curtains tight
And lay red rings at the feet of memorials,
Will they ever know how sad the veterans looked when we saluted them,
Will they tell them that we tried,
But human nature cannot be denied,
To them we will be an endless list
Of statistics,
They will never know our faces,
Who will be remembered,
Will they remember the villains for their evil,
Or the heroes for their humanity,
Will they teach them,
Of the ones that made life worth living,
Will they teach them to cherish
The small things,
Will they learn,
That no war is ever the answer,
I pray they learn
From the tattered mess of pockmarked landscape we have left for them to find,

I hope…
While I still can,
I hope they don’t make the same mistakes again

-Curls 101