Brain Mail

Dear K,

My name is X. I am 14 and from the UK. Please give your thoughts on this and any advice.

The Real World:

Has leaders who don’t learn from past experience. That’s why we have yet another pandemic. That’s why countries are slow to find vaccines. We as a planet forget the past so easily that we don’t know until far later that it will hit us again.

The real world has people still fighting for equality and justice. Black Lives should have mattered in the first place but, in a country where white people think that white is right, how are we supposed to progress from a colour wheel and all the inequalities that come with it? How do we move on to the future if something from the past is still not being treated right? How do we tackle racism when people are still Islamophobic and when people generalise where you are from by the colour of your skin?

We still have bullies and depression. Some of that’s because no one does anything about people being under pressure. Bullying goes on because no one can find the source of it. Even if someone shows aggression, there has to be a story behind it. Yet no one can and no one will ask for anyone’s story unless they are ‘important’. What matters is the money, then how it came to be. What matters is fame and how many followers you have. Only then have you unlocked the achievement of people actually acknowledging you. Not many people bother to say ‘Hi’ unless you are popular. Popularity shouldn’t matter because people should be allowed to be how they want to be and be accepted for it. We shouldn’t be forced to be how the media portrays ‘perfect’ because without differences, this world would be boring. Imagine everyone living in the same type of house, with the same skin, same phone, same clothes. How would it make you feel if you lived the same life as someone else?

People are outcast because they are different. That’s why people still cast shame upon LGBTQ+. 7 Police records from England and Wales showed that from 2018 to 2019, there were 14,491 hate crimes based on sexual orientation (25% more than the year before) and 2,333 hate crimes based on ‘transgender identity’ (37% more than the year before) (Home Office, 2019). A lot of anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes involve public order offences (like threats and abusive behaviour in public areas). Another (more known) type of offence is violence against the person (including assaults). This has to change. A lot of us know this but not all of us as a country, as a continent, or globally.

People still turn to crime because of poverty and their peers. That’s because the richer people up in ‘higher tiers’ of society do not donate to help a good cause even if some ‘subordinates’ need a get out clause.

We have people fighting for change in communities and for climate so why can’t we also look at causes of negativity and riots. Why can’t we cast negative thoughts away with a spell? Why do we just dwell on what people do and not fix it? Why do we ponder too long that the tea melts the biscuit? Why can’t we do more to lower the suicide rate? Why can't we stop obliterating dreams and making people irate? I want to change the way that people think with music. I want to write lyrics and perform and create a fanbase that is like a family to me because, if anyone is to listen to your opinion, it’s family. Do you think that people will use it?

Regards,

__________________________________________________

Dear X,

It’s good that you want to change people’s mindset but it’s just that you can’t. Even if you published this or created lyrics based on this, you wouldn’t be able to get into people’s heads. You are too young.

BTW, what would your ideal world even look like? Would there be fairies?

Don't live in a storybook all your life,

__________________________________________________

Dear K,

I get what you mean. Sorry that I wasted your time. Please tell me what you think about this:

My ideal world:

Would consist of people that ask how your day went. It would consist of smart and diverse leaders with diverse opinions so that other races are treated as equal as the large white community. In my ideal world, anger would still be present but people would talk or figure stuff out so that others. People’s understanding would be better so that we could waltz into a new future together. Countries wouldn’t be exploited. People would get the pay that they deserve and there would be no murder because people wouldn’t need to resort to it. People would still have differences because I like being different to others. People would have more chances to express themselves. The colour wheel would stop spinning and would land on ‘All Races’ so that privileges are given to many of our colourful faces. Rich people would give more, while still maintaining status and stereotypes from the media would no longer exist because more people would realise that differences are fun. From this, no phobias of other cultures would fester and grow.

Most importantly, however, people would learn from mistakes and take opportunities to continue with life without a pandemic because I swear I am sick and tired of being told to stay home!!!

One of my friends told me that she thinks people bond over sadness and suffering and I agree because, with what we have faced so far, we should be able to come together to make this world better.

Anyway, I won't be doing any music in the future.

I guess this is goodbye,

Dear X,

Sorry for this late reply. I had been in my thoughts for the past few days and I couldn't read your piece although I really really wanted to. Anyway, I read what you had to say and re-read your first email. I’m sorry I said that you were too young. I love that you put some rhymes into the writing. You say you want leaders to listen to the people so I thought about you becoming a leader within the people. You could make a huge impact with your music. Have you written anything? If so, please send me a piece. I would love to hear.

Looking forward to your lyrics,

__________________________________________________

Dear K,

This is something I wrote in my diary:

People gasping for air

And begging for help

While police officers kneel on their necks idly

Dying of suffocation yet it stifles me

Every sentence is a rifle

Every mouth is a trigger

So don’t pull it

I’ve been verbally bullied

Every wrong word is a bullet

Facing racists and hate

Because of the colour of your skin

Making faces and racial slurs

Islamophobes, negrophobes

People thinking others of the same colour are from same place

‘Why bother? They have the same face.’

Weaker people hating to numb their own insecurities

Others making excuses, saying negativity is a minor impurity

Hope you like it,

__________________________________________________

Dear X,

Does this answer your question?

Now for a digression

I've learnt quite a few lessons

Since I was pubescent

Because I was rude

And everyone enjoyed it

And I toyed with emotion

So, I almost destroyed a friendship

Yes, my behaviour has always been somewhat horrendous

But now it's time to end this

In myself and others

I’ve been deep in conversation with someone I could call my brother

About how we live in a time of bad people, bad decisions

And people spitting toxic words with great precision

And how we have a division between humans who should

Constantly be living in as much peace as possible

Instead of breaking each other into pieces

And how we live in a place where pressure and crap

Is dumped on to us like faeces

We have to stress about how we look and what we wear

It’s not good anyway to look lazy and like a bear

Either way people care enough to make it their duty and swear

That they will cuss anybody with a different style of hair

All the best for the last bit,

__________________________________________________

You know who it is by now. I have finished off the poem:

Where did hate even come from

What are its roots

Where did it stem from

Why can’t people just be calm and zen in their R.E.M

Why has the amount of detestation only risen

In the time we need humanitarianism

Stop feeling how others feel

And just be real

Because only when the truth spills overseas

Will our world be ideal

I kneel before the future

And pray whatever it holds,

It can allow people to show themselves off and be bold

And that society can get in front of the fireplace to not be cold

I hope that stories of depression get told and retold

So that we know

That our actions have consequences

And negativity can finally be old

Please tell me what you think,

__________________________________________________

Dear X,

This isn’t a poem. This is a song. I will make sure that we meet. I want to help you to get your message across to the people. According to your first email, you have a lot to say and this song isn’t finished.

Look out for an email in the near future.

This is nowhere near goodbye,