Outside Opinions

They affect everybody.

"You're ugly."

"You're fat."

"You're stupid."

"You're annoying."

"I hate you."

We're told to ignore these things,

To not let them get to us,

To keep them out of our head,

And not have any effect on us.

But all our life has been built the other way.

When you were born,

The first thing your parents probably did,

Was try to get you say to say,

"Mama!"

When you started getting older,

Your parents would stand you up,

And hold your arms,

As they taught you how to walk.

Eventually, you would get old enough,

And they would take you to the bathroom,

Sit you down on the toilet,

And teach you how to poop.

They would send you to school,

So that you could learn,

So that you could make friends,

So that you could grow.

There you would watch your friends,

And passively learn from them.

They would teach you new words,

Both good and bad.

People would get in trouble,

And you would learn from that as well.

However, some people learn one thing,

And others learn another.

By the time we get to the stage,

Where people finally start to get really mean,

Where we hear those dangerous phrases,

We have already been taught otherwise.

We have never been told,

"Ignore others,"

"Don't learn from your environment,"

"Nothing other people say or do is what you should do."

Instead, it is all we have ever done.

It is the reason we act today,

It is the reason we say today,

It is the reason we think today,

The way we do.

So when you hear,

"You're ugly,"

"You're fat,"

"You're dumb,"

"I hate you."

You have already been taught one thing:
That these people are already us,

That these people are our actions,

That these people are our words,

That these people are our thoughts.

So our thoughts adapt to them,

and we think, "I hate me."