We look but we don’t see

We hear but we don’t listen

We think we know by assumptions

And disregard each others’ emotions

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But I guess this world is not in our favor,

We’re born into a society of artificial categorization, forced separation

Stuffed into boxes of convenient identification

Where gender can only be designated by an M or an F

Where when the light reflects the skin to create a certain shade

We’re susceptible to the hurt, the pain, and the shame

Where loving the wrong person harbors so much hate

But that’s our fate, this is the weight

That we carry on our shoulders, holding down our souls are the borders

We’ve created

We’ve instilled

On this earth

The uneven playing field

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We look but we don’t see

We hear but we don’t listen

We think we know by assumptions

And disregard each other as a person.

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How can you know who someone is just by the way they look?

By the way they talk? Or the way they walk?

Placed into these boxes, poked holes to let us breath

But there’s not enough light to let you see

Who we really are

Who am I to you, if you don’t ask me?

Inference-ing differences distracting from the similarities

My heart beats on for me to survive

But you’re beating my heart with every false image

Constructed by your thoughts

Manipulated by society

Accepted as your reality

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We look but we don’t see

We hear but we don’t listen

We think we know by assumptions

And each time you’re chipping away a piece of me

Each time you’re ripping away a piece of me

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Because you may think you know me, but I haven’t even spoke with you once

You may think you know me, but you haven’t given the time to connect

What is preventing this connection?

Societal manipulation?

Fear of confrontation?

Don’t wanna be in an awkward situation?

Our time on this earth is finite but what we do with it is limitless

If we allow it to be limitless

The only limits that exist should be in calculus

And even then they still suck

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We all start off as a blank canvas

The resulting piece is up to you

But alas

This world is not in our favor

People try to take your creativity,

Imposing their ideas, their thoughts onto your identity

Take that brush, draw that line, pick your medium, explore your mind, define yourself!

That canvas is yours

Don't you ever compromise through someone else’s lens

Don’t ever let someone define you

And don't ever define someone else.

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Open your eyes and see

Open your ears and listen

Open your heart and feel

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Just get to know me 'cuz I'd like to get to know you.