Know You Lived

Amongst the monotony and day in
Day out routines,
It would appear that I am living a normal life.
If I look out the windows,
The cars still drive by,
The trees still rustle with the wind,
People are still walking by
As if nothing were wrong with the world.

If you've ever sat and watched the world move,
You'd see that it's a beautiful place;
But beauty has it's imperfections
And I cannot see past the ignorance
That society displays.

We destroy our tomorrow
With every ounce of greed dug into
Our own self disinterest.
From money and materialistic "needs"
To the unhealthy relationships we maintain
In the name of needing someone
To cure us of our loneliness and disgust with ourselves.

We are lacking a love,
You see.
Self-love,
Love for others,
For the places we live,
And the things that we do.
There is no longer a passion
But instead a deceitful scorn
Of our unlively routine.
Habit made through the same
Negative attitude
And masochistic actions.

I can ask repedetly and
Still not get a straightforward response,
"Why are you so angry?"
Is your dissatisfaction with yourself,
So overwhelming that you're blinded
To see that clearly you are unhappy with your life?
Or has social standards twisted your perspective
To where you no longer know what happiness truly is?

Someone lied when they told us
What the American dream was.
To be married,
Have two and a half children,
With a dog and the white picket fence.
To live to be a hundred,
And worked most your life so that
You can pay your grandchildren's way
Through their college tuition
(Because obviously they can't afford it).

There are people who did everything by the books,
And wonder why they're bitter from a life
That they did "correctly."
When really,
They lived a life
Without ever having a second thought for thesmelves
And wishing to hell they could have a second chance.

Truly,
Life is a precious thing.
But when we value our lives
On the things that we own
And not the experiences that we had-
We see it all as some expendable catrostophe
Like really there isn't anything better.

Please,
Do not misunderstand me.
I am a hopeless romantic who sees
The world in a light not many understand.
I truly believe the grass might be greener
On the other side.

But we need to open our eyes,
And live.
Live like there's no tomorrow,
Because there might not be a tomorrow.
Do what makes you happy,
Because happiness is sometimes all we can measure with.

Know that when you're in your deathbed,
There weren't any regrets.
Know that when your friends and family look back,
You were the best person you could be,
And you experienced all that life had to offer.

That one day when nothing else matters,
You know you lived.