No child wants to die

No teen or youth wants to take their own life

They only want to see the world change

 

Death just seems like the last option, the only way out

No one seems to be there to help

And the future looks so bleak

They think they are useless and unwanted

And they feel that they will feel no happiness, so it’s best they not feel at all

 

But no child wants to die

No teen or youth wants to take their own life

They only want to see the world change

 

They want father to put his bottle down

They want mother to stop doing her drugs

They want brother out of jail

And sister’s husband to stop hitting her

They want the kids at school to accept their sexual orientation

They want the anxiety and depression to stop constantly swirling around their head in an endless dance

 

But no child wants to die

No teen or youth wants to take their own life

They only want to see the world change

 

They want people to care about the poor

They want to find a peer group and politicians who care about them

They want to find a good education

Even when though they hate school, they want to learn

Even though their talent is the brush, teachers say they must be talented with the pencil

And even when their talent is with the pencil, they’re told they should be talented with the book

They want the schools to recognize they are all individuals

 

No child wants to die

No teen or youth wants to take their own life

They only want to see the world change

 

They want to wear what they want, they want to believe what they want

They want to love who they want, they want to listen to what they want

They want to say what they want to, and eat the foods that they like to eat

They want to be loved, and helped, and respected

But everyday we tell them that they have to be what they don’t want to be and what they can’t be

And if they are not exactly what they aren’t we tell them they will go nowhere

 

And when we tell them they will go nowhere, they feel trapped

There are no options. There are no alternatives. There is no hope. They will be stuck.

They have no path but a path of nothing. They are sinners against society and should be ashamed.

And when they see that there is no place to run, no place to hide, no way to fight:

They commit suicide.
 

I have met many, many people who were suicidal

But I’ve never met anyone who wanted to die

Because no child wants to die

No teen or youth wants to take their own life

They only want to see the world change