{"id":18731,"date":"2025-07-05T18:43:48","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T22:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2025\/07\/if-revisited-for-the-2020s-with-no-apologies-to-kipling-and-dr-seuss\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T15:00:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T19:00:36","slug":"if-revisited-for-the-2020s-with-no-apologies-to-kipling-and-dr-seuss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2025\/07\/if-revisited-for-the-2020s-with-no-apologies-to-kipling-and-dr-seuss\/","title":{"rendered":"If (Revisited for the 2020s, with no apologies to Kipling and Dr Seuss)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you can keep your head
when you’re surrounded by idiots
who blindly believe

If you dream of a future
where no one goes hungry,
no one in need

If your head spins from lies,
corruption and greed,
from sources empowered,
trusted to read. us the news.

If you care about kindness
and feel pain when others,
are hurt due to ignorance
of assholes unkind.

If you respect all creation,
and don’t understand,
why people and creatures
suffer at the hands
of inhumane humans
who don’t have a plan
to make anything better
if they can’t make a buck,
I know they all mock us,
think we’re all dumb as fuck
keep telling us it’s just
a run of bad luck
while they reap giant profits
Did i say reap? I meant SUCK
till there’s nothing to suck
because they’ve sucked it all up

If you believe in equality
and justice for all,
while living in horror
or hiding or fear
at the hateful who profit
by war and division
and shameless abuse
of the poor and the meek

If everything around you
seems way too insane,
a fucked up new normal,
a pain in the brain,
each new profanity
a breath of insanity,
making the last one
seem comfortable, fuzzy and warm.

If this is a world
that ain’t one you prefer,
and the people in power
seem doomed to make things worse

If you keep falling and getting back up
when the world seems dead set
on knocking your ass
right back to the pavement
as soon as you do.

If making things better
still seems important,
even after all
we’ve all been through

Then remember one thing,
my friend most of all.
The bigger the asshole,
the louder they fall

For so many have eyes
but refuse to be able
to see through the lies
to the truth on the table
in Freedom’s last light
We fade into denial
with barely a fight,
Staring into the Void
of our future destroyed
Pretending the darkness
Is too fucking bright

time to wake up now
the nightmare won’t end until we do
If…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Jamie Gray is a songwriter from upstate NY<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you can keep your head when you’re surrounded by idiots who blindly believe If you dream of a future where no one goes hungry, no one in need If your head spins from lies, corruption and greed, from sources empowered, trusted to read. us the news. If you care about kindness and feel pain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[582,565,601,587,782,600,620],"tags":[96,94,602,751,653,744,523,521],"class_list":["post-18731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-blog-2","category-jamiegray","category-jamiegrayofficial","category-moregray","category-poetry-2","category-politics-2","category-twoamericas","tag-jamiegray","tag-jamiegraymusic","tag-jamiegrayofficial","tag-poem","tag-republicans","tag-twoamericas","tag-blog","tag-politics","post_format-post-format-image"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18490,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2022\/10\/democracy-matters\/","url_meta":{"origin":18731,"position":0},"title":"Democracy Matters.","date":"October 9, 2022","format":"image","excerpt":"They say your vote matters. This year it really may. Across the country, election deniers are running for offices that can affect the outcome of future elections. If they are elected, they could change the results of elections, despite the will of the voters. It's clear they are willing to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "#BlackLivesMatter"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/d44de044562105699464645241.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18582,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2023\/08\/im-ending-my-abusive-relationship-with-the-wealthy\/","url_meta":{"origin":18731,"position":1},"title":"I’m Ending My Abusive Relationship with The Wealthy.","date":"August 27, 2023","format":"image","excerpt":"I think it's time that the human race figures out, that progress for a few should never mean regress for some. If your success comes at another's expense, it is not really success. It's abuse.Abuse of human rights. Abuse of our shared resources. Abuse of power, for profit...and more power.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "#blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/6b2551df-d71c-434c-a030-8e70a1cfd1f1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18802,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2026\/03\/creativity-and-moody-muses\/","url_meta":{"origin":18731,"position":2},"title":"Creativity and Moody Muses","date":"March 12, 2026","format":"image","excerpt":"A lot of creative people I know seem to create constantly. Some people claim you have to force yourself to write daily. Me, I don't think you should force yourself to do anything, and my muses would only get angry at me for abusing their good nature. I've come to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "#blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260312_122631458461192947042535.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18688,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2025\/04\/today-in-my-head\/","url_meta":{"origin":18731,"position":3},"title":"Today in my head","date":"April 12, 2025","format":"image","excerpt":"It turns out, life is never what you think it is. Several times in my life, I've learned this lesson. Sometimes the hard way. Just because you think it's important, doesn't mean it is. We are always deciding which thoughts are important enough to act on. Everyday decisions are the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "#blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/20250227_1438419198933863469942951.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18591,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2024\/05\/life-is-hard\/","url_meta":{"origin":18731,"position":4},"title":"Life is hard.","date":"May 3, 2024","format":"image","excerpt":"Life is Hard.Weed makes it better.Stay baked, my friends. #420","rel":"","context":"In "#Cannabis"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/1000003795_edited2902541311523068816.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17007,"url":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/2018\/11\/stan-lee-dead-at-95\/","url_meta":{"origin":18731,"position":5},"title":"Stan Lee Dead at 95","date":"November 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, superheroes everywhere are weeping for their lost creator. RIP Stan. You've gifted us muchly. https:\/\/ino.to\/2Sby-8d","rel":"","context":"In "#blog"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18731"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18731"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18742,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18731\/revisions\/18742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamiegraymusic.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}