Dear California

Dear California,

I was raised on your crashing shores

I have beheld the beauty of the redwood trees

Seen the highest peek, to the desert of el Centro

The hot pastel

Root 66

From the surfers, To the business men and women.

From north to south,

Beyond the beautiful cover, it is all the same

Never enough.

Hungry people,

Selfish people

The bullies

The cruel,

And those taken advantage of.

            I see them try to hide their pain

They try to hide it by putting others down.

They don’t see their worth, so they put others down

They want to believe they are better

Better than those around them

It is not strength they have, but uttermost weakness.

            You take those who do not conform to their ideas, and drag them in

You can only be different if you fit in our terms

You can be different, but different like us

You do you and I do me, but you can’t disagree with me

            Your people claim to be original, open, and understanding, but they are exactly the opposite.

They call murder of innocence women’s rights

How is that a woman’s right?

What happened to a mothers undying love for her child?

The people through their lives away, but they drag more than themselves down.

Don’t you know?

No man, woman, or child is an island.

What you do effects your family.

It effects those who love you!

            What happened to the family?

There was a time when family mattered,

I remember the days when mothers stayed home to raise their young

The fathers worked to support the family

The men worked for money so the woman could do something more important.

The woman raised the future, they guided their children

It mattered, and that system worked

            So why do so many seek to destroy it?

From your sunny shores, you fight aghast the family.

I know a mother who lives in that sunny state

She left her job to devote all her time to her kids,

She did it because she wanted to, she wanted to give all her time to her children,

Because, she loves them.

For that decision, she has been treated like trash.

Talked down upon for quitting her well-paying job.

            Women who don’t work are treated as though they waste their time,

            And men who work are treated like they stole a lady’s job

I know men who are thrown down and demoted

Do you not see that it is not just the man you are hurting, but his family at home?

            Men cannot work, so the roles are reversed.

Mothers must work, and the men must stay at home

The roles have been reversed you see,

Reversed like day and night

Things are not as they were

            Children need both parents

Children don’t see their parents

Don’t you know?

They don’t want money or status

What a child wants is their parent’s time

            Do you not wonder why teen suicide is so high?

Did you ever think that a little love could help change that?

All a child wants is to be seen

They want mommy

They want daddy

The world is changing

I ask you,

 what is wright

 and what is wrong?

Do we truly seek to end oppression?

Or do we simply seek to reverse the roles?

You must know history

Are we overcoming the past? Or just repeating it in reverse roles?

Is this freedom,

or revenge?

            “You do what is right for you, I do what is right for me”

I hear those words,

I hear the words, and I weep

Is that truly the essence of right and wrong?

Preference?

            NO!

No, I cannot by that.

I won’t take what you are selling

Most grow up hearing the words “If your friends jump off a cliff, would you?”

But I have another question for you

I ask you,

I plead to know

Would you really not try to stop them?

             Is that what you consider love?

Is that what this world calls love?

Is that love?

I have to ask because that is what you teach

That is what your shores tell.

Is that not what you call truth California?

Are we called to watch those we love destroy themselves, and those around them?

Are we called not to interfere?

Are we called to let them hurt themselves in fear of hurting feelings?

Are we called to sit and watch?

No!

NO, I will not have it.

I cannot live in that word

No, this cannot be

Love

Hate me.

Hate me as I try to stop you

Hate me as I try to pull you back from the edge of the cliff

            I don’t care

I believe

I know there is a right and a wrong

Love doesn’t sit back and watch

Love gets its hands dirty

Hate me, because I will fight for the family

            I will fight because I know how blessed I am

The family.

My mother gave up a job to raise her kids

I am ever grateful, for I would not be who I am if not for her

She sacrificed so much

            But…

But my sister scorns her for her sacrifice

My sister wished my mother got a job instead

My sister who doesn’t want the gift she was given

            Dear California, you got my sister,

You have her, yet we still welcome her home with open arms

What happened to children respecting their parents?

Oh, California,

What have you become?

You are like a poisons toxin

Your poison has leaked beyond your shores

Oh, California,

I am glad I escaped you

So, why?

Why do I feel that I will one day return to your shores?