identity

where is your heart?
do you keep it in a box,
safe from those that may do it harm?
do you wear it on your sleeve,
where it is always accessible?

i keep mine in a safe
with a little peep hole
so it can look out,
but never be touched
unless i choose to
flip the lock.

i love unconditionally,
but i'm fully aware of
how flawed we are.
people make mistakes,
and those mistakes don't
necessarily make someone
bad. it just means that they
are prone to the flaws,
to the misleading illusions
of who they think they
should be in order to live up
to a certain image of what
the world says they should be.

this is the way of things.
we are composed of every
minute, every limitation,
or ideal we have been fed.
we get stuck in these little boxes
because we are told that safety
lies in those containers.

it is much like stereotypes.
we are told that that portion of the
population does a particular thing,
and we are suddenly convinced
that that is true because
that particular portion
is now trying to live up to
the stereotype provided. it becomes a
viscous cycle that is hard to break.

and just because someone says
they love unconditionally
it doesn't mean they are willing to
succumb to the ignorance of race,
or the radical view of sexuality,
or the limited morality of religion.
it simply means that they understand
that underneath the masks,
we are all just people, making our way,
trying to find the unconditional love
that was always there, no matter
what stereotype you're trying
to fit in.

don't do what they tell you.
don't believe what you are told.
don't be who they assume you to be.
don't give in to small notions of what it
should be, or how they want to identified you.

lock up your heart.
keep it safe.
allow it a peep hole to look out
unto the world that is trying to
identify you.