Demanding.
This is the word that describes "freedom". One word. Demanding, but it's not exactly a bad thing. I will explain why in a poem.
Explain, for me, will you,
your right to receive this education
that you so blatantly throw to the dogs,
which children in other countries and places
pine for.
Is it deserved?
Not for them, but for you.
This thing that every human should receive?
Freedom is not a right, but an obligation.
Those who have it should use it, not abuse it.
The world needs to see and needs to understand why,
every mouth should be fed,
every child given healthcare,
and every family given their needs.
It is demanding, talking to a wall.
Your face, Congressman, is a wall.
You do not want to, and I doubt that you really do,
understand my need to change the world.
What you see, I am sure,
is a college girl fighting for the rights of the underprivileged.
What do you think, Congressman (or Woman)?
It's in vogue, to do so, has probably been uttered,
about the countless protestors.
Then, in the same sentence, irony of all ironies,
the apathy of young people comes up in casual conversation.
Yet we are the same ones calling you
pleading for you to do something about the genocide in Darfur.
We are the same voices, the same names, that cry out from the many petitions.
You know the one's I'm talking about.
End global poverty, help stop AIDS in Africa, help children with disabilities,
repeal the death penalty, close Guantanamo Bay.
Freedom, again, is not a right, but an obligation.
Freedom gives us a voice.
Silence helps no one,
silence closes the barrier between human and humanity.
