Vows
they came marching in the school room in a single file line
where the teacher stood in front of her desk.
She said place your right hand on your chest and face the flag above the door
As we recite the words we learned long ago.
Oh to be so innocent
To be so frivolous with your trust.
When you’re young it’s easy to make promises
That you won’t have to keep till you’re older
Oh little children, don’t take vows, you don’t fully understand yet.
Oh little children, don’t believe everything you learned in school.
In the Sunday school classroom where we sang the singing songs
And memorized the weekly bible verses.
Where the teacher said, be good, be obedient to God,
Or when you die, you’ll go to hell.
Oh to feel so fortunate
To be born in a family of faith,
Yet to pity all the other people in the world
Whose parent’s religion was mistaken.
Oh little children, don’t take vows, you don’t fully understand yet.
Oh little children. Don’t believe everything your teacher says.
Around the dinner table with extended family,
Listening to the grown ups talking
Grandpa’s saying something how the blackies and the gays
Are the reason why this countries all wrong.
Oh ain’t funny, how we learn how to hate
How to despise those outside our ideals.
To believe so strongly that we are right
That we can’t tolerate a different answer.
Oh little children, don’t take vows, you don’t fully understand yet
Oh little children, don’t believe everything your parents say.
Now that I am grown and living out and on my own
And trying to think for myself,
Well I’ve come to realize that my perception of the world
Was set in stone back when I was young
And so, if there’s some universal truth
Then it will have to make itself known to me
For my mind has long since solidified
It can’t dream beyond it’s shape.
Oh little children, don’t take vows, you don’t fully understand yet.
Oh little children, don’t believe everything your teacher says,
No don’t believe everything they say.
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