Paradigm

I was born to two immigrants Who knew why they were here They were happy to pay taxes For the schools and roads Happy to be here They took it seriously Just like a job of citizenry My mother went campaigning door to door And holding to her hand was me Cause I was just a girl in a room full of women Licking stamps and laughing I remember the feeling of community blooming Of democracy happening But even though my parents were cool I had to teach myself to see All that stuff that got lost On its way to church All that stuff that got lost On its way to school All that stuff that got lost On its way to the house of my family But something was not lost on me Teach myself to see each of us Through the limbs of forgiveness Like we're stuck with each other, god forbid Teach myself to smile And stop and talk to whole other color kids Teach myself to be new in an instant like the truth Is accessible at any time Teach myself its never ever one or the other It's a paradox in every paradigm Overall In my chest pocket was my house key And my quarter to buy lunch And on that big yellow bus With my sign that said sucker And I was off to the days suckering punch But there are so many artists Who would fall into magnet school And I remember thinking that the long hair lady Who called herself a poet was particularly cool Someone stood up and gestured to a forest of options And I found my path to joy through those trees But I had to teach myself to keep coming back To the view from a field from right in the middle of my peace Oh yes I was just a girl in a room Full of women licking stamps and laughing I remember the feeling of community brewing Of democracy happening --- Paradigm - Ani DiFranco