No to plagiarize Socrates But I know That I don’t know And that’s something. I grew up here When the hate was quieter I grew up here When phones hung on walls. We had our violence Our rumor and spite But it wasn’t hand delivered To every person in the school Our shame wasn’t posted on youtube And watched in a huddle Three desks down. We knew things were Bad Most of us dropped out Fell into meth and handguns Died in our best friends houses After our parents kicked us out But we didn’t carry every evil thing In our pocket to look at. We didn’t have it screamed at us. We grew up and watched the world fall apart. It’s been broken since you got here When I was your age “I’d take a bullet for you” Was something you said to family or friends Not something you had to calculate Every time you walked into class But I’m saying it here. You deserve safety and hope and respect. I’ll do everything I can To give you that And a chance to go out and fight The dark we didn’t see coming And I’d be honored To fight it Alongside you.