Things Are The Way They Are Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Things are the way they are,
Because of decisions people have made.
And...
With a convincing of others to follow.

If people today have found themselves disappointed,
By the direction their lives have taken...
Shouldn't make accusations to place elsewhere.
Or perceive those they've chosen to emulate,
Owe to them an empathy shown or explanations.

'You just don't know what my life has been like.
And you certainly don't understand,
What it is I have been going through.'

~You are right. I don't.
And as I have grown older, I wont.
When I made my own decisions,
To accept the consequences from them that were made...
I removed myself from making attempts to understand,
Why someone else would try to hold me accountable...
For their own actions.~

'But you act as if you do not care.'

~Why should I care,
About those decisions you make for yourself?
I'm doing the best I can to live my own life.
And I'll give you one guess who has been there,
To offer their unsolicited criticisms 'most' of the time.~

'Some people are just unforgiving.'

~That's why I depend on forgetting more.
It leaves me with a peace of mind that is mine to keep.~

'That's selfish.'

~You aint kiddin'.
And I thank God it is.~