You Grow Up Tough

You grow up tough when you're constantly afraid.
You grow up tough when the world decides you're different.
You grow up tough when you're poor and you have to hide it.
You grow up tough when you grow up defending your right to exist.
You grow up tough when every older man just wants a little touch.
You grow up tough when you're told you're ugly just so guys can sleep with you.
You grow up tough when they hold you down with just one hand.
You grow up tough when you learn to use your teeth in self defense.
You grow up tough when your older sister is a mortal enemy when you're just 4-years-old.
You grow up tough when you've moved more times than years you've been alive.
You grow up tough when you attend 3 different 2nd grade classes.
You grow up tough when your ability to physically defend yourself is all that's stopping a lot of bad things.
You grow up tough when no one is around to support you.
You grow up tough when the men in your life justify rape.
You grow up tough when you'd rather be anywhere but your childhood home.
You grow up tough when the only thing keeping you alive is your wits and the law.
You grow up tough when your art scholarship is mocked and you're sabotaged into dropping out.
You grow up tough when you deal with devastating injury after devastating injury while being mocked.
You grow up tough in a world such as ours, that has no safety net for folks like me.
You grow up tough when those in power decide you're the acceptable loss - the pain-filled entertainment for a few... like a rat in a cage.

You grow up tough - you learn to fight.

But if you can learn to fight - you can learn to fly!

X
08/26/2024

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