Election Day

Yeah, I’ll be in the ballot booth today
Because there is no way I won’t participate
In making sure that this time, hate doesn’t win
In saying that people are so much deeper than their skin

My vote will say no matter what your heritage
If your family is Muslim, black, or Mexican
I don’t see you as any less of an American

I’m able to vote as a woman
But it hasn’t always been that way
Our opinions weren’t valid back in ‘the good ole days’
It scares me to see such misogyny on display
To be told my looks determine the value of what I say

I’ll be voting down the ballot
for those who understand accountability
Who don’t believe that wealth affects credibility
I’ll vote for people who always follow the science
Who want to move us away from our oil reliance

I’ll vote for the people who can act like adults
Who don’t follow party lines like it’s some kind of cult
I’ll be voting for reason, for rationality
Compromise imperitive to an indirect democracy

So I hope to see you at the voting booths today
I’ll give you a smile and go on my way
See I am not worried, I have faith we will see
That hate isn’t all that it’s hyped up to be

One Wish

Star light, star bright
first star I see tonight
Wish I may, wish I might
have the wish I wish tonight

I’ve got this one wish, it’s like a dream
A world without petty egos and bigotry
A world where love always trumps hate
Where no one feels the need to discriminate

Where it doesn’t matter what shade of skin you’re rocking
Just the content of your words when you get to talking

Where fear doesn’t override our empathy
Where we reach for compassion, for dignity
Where we don’t sneer at basic common courtesy
Because we now consider that to be “too PC”

I’ve got this wish I’d really like to see
A return to civility, to decency
Where we celebrate the optimism found in youth
You can learn just as much from them as they can from you
To when denigrating others didn’t get us off
When we found pride in things that now just elicit scoffs

But we all learn from different people, different places
And evil takes on many forms, shapes and faces
It’s passed down in families through generations
Spreading and popping up in pockets throughout the nation

I’ve got this wish that you could call a dream
Where we encourage thoughtfulness and generosity
Where we foster intellectual curiosity
And our leaders display kindness, not animosity

i believe

i believe
in kindness
and grace
that everyone
looks better
with a smile
on their face

i crave words
debates, ideas
i believe nothing
is more liberating
than the way
tolerance feels

that organized
oppression
is something
we should fear

people aren’t property
fairness isn’t a commodity
you think i’m naive, probably
but that’s what i believe
and i’ll defend it
as long as i
can breathe

i hope for progress
happiness, liberty
that we learn
from the mistakes
we’ve made
throughout our history

you can’t have dignity
without decency
trust without sincerity
yeah i believe

that there’s a problem
when men become powerful
backed by the plentiful
amount of people
who aren’t clever enough
to know better
than to believe only that
which they’ve heard

when politicians
pander to the ignorant
so the truth
becomes intelligibly hazy
when campaigns depend
on the intellectually lazy

i believe in humanity
in equality
that our leaders
shouldn’t be trying
to legislate
their own morality
you can call me a liberal
definitely
and i’ll defend it
as long as i can breathe

as for me, i bring
an open heart
and an open mind
with an open hand
for those
who need a lift
from time to time

a curious spirit
a compassionate word
an encouragement
that you and your voice
should be heard