YOUTH
or "If God be for us who can be against us?"

Fighting, fighting, fighting. Fighting not to lose yourself in a world that is falling apart. Fighting not to lose yourself among the lost. You scream out at the top of your lungs, yet no one seems to hear. "Where are you?" They ask, but do they really care? Really care? You try to speak, but they have put only their words in your mouth.

Running, running, running. Running to escape the world and all it stands for. Running to stay apart, to stay separate, different. Collapsing in tears of anger and frustration, you cry out for nothing but to be heard.

Hopeless. It all feels so hopeless. What is the reason for it all? Did you miss the lesson? The time when it was explained to those who now scorn your name? Why? "Oh God, why?!" You scream. There must, there must be more to life than this! Did you create us for the "rat race?" Scratching, clawing, biting, killing each other over a scrap of cheese? Choked by the mortal coil we gnaw at?

Where do we go from here? Where is the passion, the vision, the purpose? Where do we go from here? Where is the dream? What do I fight but me? Who do we fight but You? And, who am I anyway? How can I lose what was never found? And yet, I fight. I struggle to hold onto whatever can hold me.

He is the one who knows. He is the one who sees. He is the only one who can hold your heart in a place where it cannot be lost. You fight so hard to hold onto what you know to be true. You fight so hard, and no one knows, no one sees. No one tries to get through to the heart you hide, the person you really are. He is the only one who knows.

You are a child in the body of an adult, how can you give what the world demands? How can you fight when no one stands with you? Oh, "If God be for us who can be against us?" Who!? We fight a daily struggle to live, to be free, but for what? So that we may work our fingers to the bone and have nothing but paper to show for it? No! I must shine. I must burn. I must be different, and I must never, ever give in. But, above all, I must not forget, "If God be for me who can be against me!?" I must not give up the fight.