wasting your life away in misery

when you were young,

in your teens,

into your twenties, you

pretty much

spent your waking hours

wanting to have fun.

you wanted to go out

drinking and dancing

with your buds, you wanted

to meet girls,

to go to the beach

or lake to swim.

a day at the pool was golden.

you wanted to wash and wax

your car,

get it ready for Saturday

night.

you went to the movies,

you went to the local dive

bars, the drive-thru

for fast food.

you were free and in love

with life.

politics

and the world was a vague

notion, something

your parents

sometimes seemed more

aware of,

but now, when you look 

around, so many young

people are sad and depressed,

confused

about who they are,

angry at the world, 

spending their precious

hours on the street in costumes,

rioting, protesting,

throwing themselves in front

of police cars,

blocking roads,

getting gassed and pepper

sprayed.

they so badly want their issues

to be something

like the Vietnam War, but 

they aren't,
they aren't even close.