| Generation X |
| Five years old having fun living life Now he's fifteen and full of strife He used to go outside and play But now he just sits inside all day His grades were once better than the best But now they're below all of the rest He used to sing and dance with joy Back when he was just a little boy Now his only friends are alcohol and drugs And he's dad gives him lectures instead of hugs He's had sex with girls that don't know his name But he likes playing this dangerous game It makes him feel cool, makes him think he's a man It doesn't make it right, but he thinks that it can He's just a kid with so much still in store Remember, he's fifteen, he's a high school sophomore He can't even drive a car of his own He lives under the roof of his parents' home He's not grown up yet, he is still just a teen Living off burgers, french fries and caffeine A girl had a baby and she says he's the dad She's not the only one with all the sex that he's had He spends the weekends at parties getting drunk Monday's exam, he know he will flunk What happened to the little boy I knew long ago The one who played baseball, said he's gonna go pro What happened to the boy who swam the summer away The little boy who knelt by his beside to pray The one who was the first to get picked to play ball The first to help others get up if they were to fall Rock music and TV, those can't be to blame It's you, the adults who should be put to shame You are the ones that let this kid down You stood by and watched as he fell to the ground There were silent cries for help and you paid him no mind You said, "Son, maybe later, I haven't the time." You did this to him, you failed him twice You didn't bother to care, and now we pay the price Your children are plotting each other's demise But you turn a deaf ear and ignore their soft cries. You say, build more fences, keep them in, keep them safe But at home it's not better, for us, there's no place There's no one to be a role model for us to follow So tomorrow, when he dies, don't give me your sorrow You'll get no pity from me, you knew this would come And still as it happens, you continue to run Why won't you turn and face the world that you made You created this horror and it's the children who've paid For the mistakes that you made and still won't admit We keep saying "We're here!" but you always seem to forget We're not grown up like you, we still need someone to guide We need you to grow up and stop trying to hide You may have your duties, but your kids--they come first You're supposed to be here when the bad turns to worse Your obligation is to us, not your job, not your boss We should be your prerogative, whatever the cost You made us a promise to always be there But you walk away when we ask for your care It's not the media, video games or our peers It was the example you set that got us all here Don't blame it on us, it's time you confess It's not just our fault, you helped make the mess Don't say it's from hormones, it's from too much sun Stop making excuses the damage is done We know there's a problem, so please help us right it We know there's injustice so please, help us fight it Please don't give up on us because we need your support If no one helps us reach we'll always come up short We can't keep going on if there's no one to believe We can't keep on striving with nothing to achieve We need you to push us forward, to help us prevail A ship can't go forward with no wind in the sail Don't throw in the towel, don't abandon the ship Don't leave us behind, don't cash in the chips Don't stop fighting for us, please, don't turn your back Don't let anymore of us slip through the crack So many of us have already been lost on our way Keep a watchful eye, don't let us go astray Please don't give up because we haven't yet We're not ready to face that final sunset Have faith in us please, it's a simple request Save this little boy who's become deeply depressed Stop him before he takes away his own life You were young once, you can understand his strife He's fifteen years old, he can't even drive Tell him it'll be okay, that he'll surely survive He'll get through the day and the rest of the year Because now, you promise, you will always be near You won't jump to conclusions when he starts to speak out You'll hear all he has to say and you won't freak out Don't tell him he knows better or how stupid he's been Instead tell him you love him, he'll never do it again He just wants you to notice that he's still around He's still a part of your life, not just in the background He wants you to realize that he still needs you there He needs you to love him, he needs you to care He'll never say it out loud, but it's there in his eyes And if you listen without your ears you'll hear his cries "Mom, Dad, I love you, will you please love me too I want us to talk but I can't seem to get through My words had not meaning so I used actions instead I thought you'd understand the words left unsaid I'm sorry for not listening when you wanted to talk And now the doors sealed so I can't even knock Please hear me now, before it's too late Get me out of the world, give me back my clean slate Get me out of this life, it's now or it's never Because I can't keep going on like this forever Please, will you hold me, please will you care, Please, will you love me, please answer my prayer Please don't you give up, don't you dare turn away Please give me a hug, and tell me to stay." Now you turn around, take a good look at your child And you tell me now if that's a real smile If your child's really happy or if really he's afraid Of the punishment he'll get for the mistakes he has made Is he afraid to approach you and ask for your help Because whenever he does, your answer's the belt Do you think causing pain gets your message across Does it make him remember that you are the boss Or does it make him hate you and hate himself too Because no matter the effort it's not good enough for you Less than perfect is not tolerated and it's made him insane He wants to please you but everything is in vain Instead of praising his accomplishments you only see the mistake If you keep pushing him past his limits, he's bound to break If you set him up to fail you're not giving him a chance You can't judge a book by its cover, or even at a glance He may have failed his classes, but you failed him first You promised to be there in the best times and worst Then you got tied up in meetings and overtime pay You weren't even around when I started to stray If you had been watching, I might have been saved But all alone in this world, I couldn't be brave I couldn't keep going without you by my side My world was the night without a star as a guide It's not all your fault, I am partly to blame It was I who began playing this dangerous game I admit I'm not perfect, I have faults, I have flaws But don't write me off as just another lost cause A ball cannot roll unless you give a shove A child cannot grow unless you give him some love More than rules and restrictions he needs someone to trust He needs reassurance he won't be left behind in the dust He's fifteen years old and he's tired of trying Of making you see him, he's thinking of dying He's preparing himself to put an end to his life In doing so he can also put an end to his strife He can escape from this world of deception and lies And go to his world filled with peace in the skies Somewhere where there are no clouds and no rain Where there will be no broken promises or suffering or pain |
| This poem was originally titled Fifteen because it was about a fifteen-year-old boy and his cry to the world that forgot him. But since its conception, Generation X has developed into something less structured than I had planned. It moves from third-person to first- to second- and back again at random intervals. Its tone pleads and demands, accuses and accepts. Perhaps I began writing this when I was fifteen and a sophomore, though I can't recollect exactly when the little rhyme first occurred in my head. Was my own desperate plea for attention? Perhaps it still is. Even so, now that I am one of the adults whom this poem so viciously attacks, I remember those days of "teenage angst" as we old people so enjoy calling it. And when I look at today's youth, I feel like young people are degenerating, that every year they get worse and worse. But then I remember, when I was that age, the adults thought the same about my generation, and we've turned out all right. So there is hope. Generation X has grown up. We're not all drug addicts, in jail, or dead. And the next group of kids won't end up that way either. Have faith in our young people. They will survive the world we have created. They will not fail. |
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