Were You Raised That Way?

Were you raised that way?
Did your father teach you…
To disrespect women?
To laugh at someone who has a disability?
To go around calling other people names?
To always blame someone else?

Were you raised…
To believe lies?
To mock others?
To snicker when another person stumbles?

Did your mother teach you…
To clap your approval over someone else’s embarrassment?
To treat another person in a way you would never want your children to be treated?
Or your partner to be treated?
Or, yourself for that matter?

Or, did you learn it on your own?
Or, do you act that way to go along with the crowd?

Do you feel ashamed
As I did as a little boy
When I did something wrong on the far side of town
But my Mom found out what I had done
And how I had acted
And how I had treated another person
And was waiting on the porch for me when I got home.

If how you just acted
How you just treated that person
Especially one who is different from you in some way
Is the last memory we have of you
Is that how you want us to remember you?