(This is inspired by Greta Thunberg’s speeches)
You say,
“We owe it to the young to give them hope.”
But I don’t want your hope.
I want your panic.
I want you to feel
the fear I feel every day.
I want you to act
as you would in a crisis.
Because
our house is on fire.
And you,
with your fairy tales
of eternal growth,
with your profit margins,
your oil-slicked prayers-
you dare to ask us for forgiveness
before you’ve even tried to change.
You have stolen
my dreams
and my childhood
with your empty words.
But I am one of the lucky ones.
People are suffering.
People are dying.
ecosystems are collapsing.
You say
“We hear you.”
But if you really understood
and still chose silence–
then you would be cruel.
You are failing us.
But we
are waking up.
And whether you like it
or not,
change is coming.
This isn’t about bunny hugs.
It’s not about photo ops or feel-good slogans.
This is about people,
real lives,
real homes swallowed by fires
real streets drowned in floods.
This is about a future
that’s slipping through our fingers.
There is no Planet B.
No backup world.
No Planet blah
And we’re done with waiting.
The world doesn’t need more quiet girls
who raise their hands
and wait to be called on.
The world needs
angry young women –
the kind who speak
before they’re spoken to,
who don’t ask for permission
to raise hell
when the future’s on fire.