Why Do Teens Join Gangs

The World Is The neighborhood
by:Patty Bund

BATTLES are raging on dark neighborhood streets,
to PROTECT something already WON!
The RIGHT to be FREE has already been FOUGHT
by thousands of MOTHER'S SONS!
They've already DIED on battlefields!
No more BLOOD needs to be SHED!
FREEDOM is YOURS and yet you FIGHT on,
SPREADING your own FEAR and DREAD.
Why DIVIDE up the world into BLOCKS,
and IMPRISON yourselves INSIDE?
Why take SOMEONE'S LIFE for crossing a STREET?
Why can't YOU live SIDE by SIDE?
YOU build your own little PRISONS, and yet YOU think you are FREE!
FEAR of DYING keeps you within those LIMITATIONS,
if you're FREE it's so hard for others to SEE!
How can YOU consider yourself FREE?
HOw can YOU feel you have CONTROL?
YOU'RE LOCKED inside your TERRITORIAL PRISON,
with no HOPE of PROBATION or PAROLE!
If YOU cannot CROSS the STREET without the FEAR of DYING,
how will YOU FULFILL your DREAMS,
they're outside those PRISON WALLS, lying?
YOU'RE lost in the HYPE of being a HERO!
YOU STRUT and INTIMIDATE, YOU THREATEN, and CURSE!
Not realizing how SMALL your piece of the WORLD is,
YOU roam in PACKS defending your TURF!
How can YOU take a CHILD'S LIFE and consider yourself a HERO?
That CHILD DIED for a CAUSE it did not UNDERSTAND,
FROM A BULLET, SHOT by SOMEONE it did not know!
YOU have the RIGHT to give up your DREAMS, but not the RIGHT to take another's.
A CHILD has a RIGHT to a FUTURE even if it wasn't a CHILD of your MOTHER!
Take a long hard LOOK at the SIZE of your WORLD.
It may be SMALLER than YOU THINK!
Your LIFE'S on the LINE for this SMALL piece of EARTH.
Is it possible YOU'VE been HOODWINKED?
Is it possible YOU really want THINGS to CHANGE?
YOU would like to see PEACE in the STREETS?
YOU would like to LAY DOWN the FEAR and the DEATH, but are AFRAID of the RESISTANCE you'd MEET?
The FEAR of being called TRAITOR ,
keeps YOU from SAYING what YOU know to be TRUE!
Have YOU ever thought that OTHERS, may be feeling just like YOU DO?
It's time to SPEAK the TRUTH,
TOMORROW may be too LATE!
The GRAVEYARDS keep on filling,
THE LONGER THAT WE WAIT!!