PSA: This is what Depression looks like.
Social Media Fronting; An Epidemic
A poem by Yours Truly
We scroll and scroll
Seeing nothing but photos
Featuring people who are wholly whole
We see happy and healthy
Amazing transformations
Where are the pics of temptation
Of self-medication?
We see haircuts and new tattoos
Engagements and rendezvous
Newborns and rhetoric we choose
But where’s the transparency?
Here’s another happy anniversary
We boast the things that we have
But we exclude what we need
Why are we not honest and blunt?
We are all enduring something
But we desperately front
For likes and comments
Working like tourniquets while we bleed
What’s wrong? Nothing;
I’m fine
I say it’s time to draw the fucking line
You may see the scars on my arms
And maybe it’s intimidating
But avert your eyes
What you can’t see are the scars on my heart
Trust me, it’s excruciating
Cause I’ve lost friends
To this cold fucking world
But I’ve seen people mend
I’ve seen them turn shit into pearls
But this internet platform
Has no place for depression
It’s outside the scope of the norm
And expressing seems almost like regression
But truly its progression
Just to say, “damnit, I need assistance”
So if you’re here posting and you’re truly happy
I’m truly so fucking happy for you
But if you’re struggling, and you feel hella crappy
If you’re hurting inside, please be true
If you’re not okay, I beg for your persistence
And if I’ve been toxic to you
I beg for forgiveness
We’ll conquer this stupid, fragile, hurtful life together
And we’ll live a long life, old and weathered
Just be honest
And persist
It gets better
It really does
This is an open letter
To those who need to be open
And tell each other, ‘cause
We are all human
And existence is pain
We all end up cremated, 6 ft under or in tombs
Let’s prolong that inevitability for as long as we can
Help as many people as often and as long as you can stand
If someone else is suffering
A helicopter, code red
Going down
Be a landing they can land on
Don’t turn your head
Don’t let them drown.
We scroll and we scroll
Liking random shit
When we don’t really know.
We’re all going through something
Let it show.
Someone somewhere wants to offer support
And if someone needs help, don’t pull up short.