Heirlooms | Teen Ink

Heirlooms

July 11, 2019
By deanib SILVER, Valle Vista, California
deanib SILVER, Valle Vista, California
8 articles 0 photos 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard." -Anne Sexton


When you handed him that gun,

you handed him an opened door

allowed him to force respect and power with fear

 

When you handed him that gun, 

he wasn't a little kid anymore

the violence and shootings he sees in video games

went from virtual to reality

 

"He's gonna be a crip,

so he better learn to represent"

and what if instead of the pencils he needs for school,

he brings a gun and thinks it's cool?

 

When you handed him that gun

he said "no"

even though he's only 6 years old

and has been traumatized enough,

you hand him a gun so he can look tough

 

You gave him unpermitted power,

showed him that it's the only way he can get 

what he wants

he needs a father not a "homie"

 

I understand that you'd play favorites

but this type of favoritism is setting him up 

for a life of gang violence

 

When you handed him that gun,

you said "it's for protection when i'm not here"

Only 6! And you're teaching him that he needs weapons

to stand up to his fears

 

That is not courage

Courage is walking away and not being ashamed

 

You're feeding him lies, 

thrusting him into a world he doesn't deserve to be in

and he is beginning to think that it's fun

but he doesn't know that his friends will end up

dying, in jail, or fighting for a way out of that hell

 

That evil that men indoctrinate in the minds of young boys,

is that they do not cry

and you tell him to trade his tears for bullets and steel

trade his tears for retalliation

 

When you handed him that gun, 

and his small and trembling hands reached out in submission,

you shaped his mind into an automatic 

and slaughtered his innocence



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