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Disrespect
by Jeffrey ParrenOur President
is African-American
and still
I can walk into
a NYC Wendy's
on my lunch break
hearing
self-deprecating slang
demoralizing
their own race
as well as the people
whom they are sitting with
and it's all acceptable
yet the second
someone
not the same color
or background
uses that same slang,
obscenities
and even more slang
is what that someone
would receive
proving nothing.
So as the slang
is still thrown about
they take their
teenage minds
(and thus far
loud and boisterous candor)
and decide to leave.
Once outside the door
they continue
to disrupt
this once peaceful meal
and I realize
as they throw
garbage upon the ground
the disrespect
is not limited to themselves
it is towards
the people around them too
who carefully ignore the noise
and the garbage on the ground
until I can't take it anymore
able to see this all
transpiring through the window
I quickly rise to my feet
walk out the door
and while grabbing
the Wendy's bag on the ground
I tell them
"Don't worry, I got this."
One notices me
and they all leave shortly.
Maybe I made a difference,
but I doubt it. 02/26/2009 Posted on 02/26/2009
Copyright © 2024 Jeffrey Parren
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Joan Serratelli on 02/26/09 at 01:57 PM unfortunately. we live in a racist society. just wait until people figure out that not only is he Afro-American, he is half Jewish as well. I like Obama, but I really believe that his days are numbered |
| Posted by Charlie Morgan on 02/26/09 at 02:47 PM ...none so blind as those...good pointed point, jeff, will it ever end? kenneth patchens' speaks of 'we die many times and so it doesn't matter which one we call death' and it's lil' bitty deaths [such as this ex.]of which he speaks... |
| Posted by Genevieve Sturrock on 02/26/09 at 04:44 PM ah yes. know it well. part of it is youth. but the vast majority is lack of leadership in their lives. so sad. just so sad. i worry about the state of things when my own young son is my age. |
| Posted by George Hoerner on 02/26/09 at 06:02 PM The fact that most people turn away and don't want to get involved is part of the cause. And it isn't just black kids, Walk into any mall on a weekend and watch the white kids hanging out and using unacceptable language or for that matter young children with a parent who are allowed do run wild through stores. And still no one say, "stop it", but I do. |
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