A Steel Sky

Being told how we need to dress
And how to act in order to impress
It’s everywhere and they never digress
Told what our weight needs to be
That we have to adopt their idea of beauty
Despite the fact it is complete vanity
Told who we can and cannot love everyday
That one is wrong and isn’t okay
They fail to notice the bigotry in the words they say
It’s the clear-cutting of souls, leaving lifeless stumps
I’ve seen too many give in and lose the light in their eye
Just because you don’t see it when you look up
It doesn’t mean we aren’t living beneath a steel sky.

People attacked and relentlessly beaten
Ambushed by crude, hateful cretins
All because they loved another
Who was of the same gender
And others are left with broken bones
Simply based upon their skin tone
While bullying continues to bloom in our schools
Why people need to be so cruel
Harming and judging their fellow man
Is something I will never understand.

Bringing up the topics of religion
Or the numerous politicians
Everyone begins to yell and argue
Unable to agree as words are strewn
To their ideals they are ironclad
But it just makes me sad
That they can’t respect one another's beliefs
Instead of this endless grief
If only to each other they showed respect
We wouldn’t have this cause and effect.

Spoon fed ads for things we “need” to own
Dating sites telling us to join or die alone
We need to buy this phone, this house, this car
We need this college, this degree, this career to be a star
Strange things are processed in our food
Given drugs that haven’t been F.D.A. approved
And we need them for our various “issues”
Is there any way to turn off or be rescued
From these things we are constantly subjected to?

We have visions in our heads from childhood
Of becoming something great, something good
We want to be astronauts, artists, actors
We want to be musicians, doctors, writers
We want to play for the big name sport teams
But oftentimes we are told they are just fantasies
We need to strive for something “attainable”
Going for them is “too high a gamble”
A ship without sails drifts aimlessly
In an unpredictable and raging sea
Something they don’t grasp it would seem
Is that if you try hard you can achieve your dreams.

Surfing through the channels and shows
You come upon the news
The bad is often present instead
And we are rarely shown the good
They won’t talk of a hero who lies dead
But if it were a reality star, they would
There’s always a virus, a war, a killing
A car accident, a suicide or a shooting
But the things they never end up saying
Are that the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is clearing
Or that the Antarctic O-Zone hole is healing
That teen pregnancy is at an all time low
Or that we are all living longer as a whole.

Just because you only feel the weight here and there
Doesn’t mean the burden has gone anywhere
Just because you have only felt it touch your soul
Doesn’t mean it left it complete and without holes
Just because you can’t see it with your eyes
It doesn’t mean we aren’t all living beneath a steel sky.