To the people that say they were “just kids”. - Sean Mescall

That won’t suddenly give someone confidence in their appearance.

And it won’t change the fact that your body shaming crushed their spirit.

It won’t make someone’s wrist scars heal any quicker.

And it won’t stop them from spending all they got on coke, pills, and liquor.

It won’t give someone back to the people that loved them.

It won’t change the fact that they got their grave, but besides that they got nothing.

Your words back then

triggered eating disorders

and indirectly slit others’ wrists.

Your actions back then

caused addictions

and indirectly killed people.

You were just a kid.

But you fucked up the lives of other kids.

You hurt a lot of kids. They didn’t self harm, you made it happen.

You killed other kids. Now their families will never hug them again.

Never see them grow up.

Get married.

Have kids.

Achieve all their wildest dreams.

Maybe you changed since then,

but you gotta live with that shit.

Some kids you bullied are still here,

struggling to live with that shit.

You killed some of them by how you were.

Their families gotta live with that shit.

You weren’t “just a kid” back then. The fuck outta here with that.

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Sean Mescall is a poet from Chelmsford, MA