Looking at my life I always wonder why
I didn’t have the money to give to change so many lives.
Mother’s whose children go to sleep hungry at night
Their bellies empty from days without the strength to survive
Yet still our government will not provide them food to stay alive
It cuts food programs and say it’s for our good
Yes, the Government says its money it can’t afford
Unless you’re a corporation, then all are on board.
Instead they feed the rich
The so called 1 percent who control half the world’s wealth
The ones who reign supreme while we live a life of hell
Continuing to rape our economy, saying we are the ones to blame
For a game that leaves us struggling, in poverty and shame
America, land of the free
Where you can be anything, but only in your dreams
Living in a land where nothing is what we have
Where corporations are “people” with all the wealth to be had
Trillions of dollars are somehow our family’s debt
When we get nothing but work for our paychecks, and can’t pay the rent
Congress has the power to change what is, and holds our healthcare hostage
Instituting laws that break all our chances
To fight the disease that robs us, in a perfectly wrapped package
In billions for war, and even more for taxes.
So yes, I wonder what I can give to someone who needs me
When I myself don’t have enough to get by
It is then I remember the reason
I can help someone and harder I try
Even though it doesn’t ever seem enough in my eyes
To give a few cents which is all I have sometimes
So when you think you don’t have money to give if you’re asked
You don’t have to worry about what’s not in your hand.
You can help without money, if food can be had.
Memories of teachings that remain in my heart, no matter how many times
It’s been torn.
To help the unborn child in it’s mothers belly, waiting to be born.
The teachings of a mother who taught me to give what I have.
For where one person eats, a hundred others also can.
I will help you tomorrow without waiting for a reward, not shouting how much I helped you.
Not trying to keep score.
Today for you , tomorrow for me, my mother’s wise words that echo from the grave
Instilled by the pain of the birth of her children,
And horrors that became an avenue of strength, in so many ways.
So if you dig in your empty pockets, and can’t find ways to give,
If your heart has love, it will never be stayed by the thought of selfishness, the love still remains.
So how can I help? I will and I can.
For all of us can pay it forward with whatever we have.
-By Stone Gonzalez