Never in a thousand years would Billy tell you
That he thinks there’s any person in this world
Who is always right about everything.
Yet when it comes to people being mad at Billy,
Never in a thousand years will he think
That they could ever be wrong about that!
Every time
Every time
Every time
He will alter his position―
Back off―
Compromise―
Apologize―
Second-guess himself―
Even reducing his position to a mere fraction
Of what it was, if not reversing it completely―
The foregone conclusion being that
What’s wrong in the situation must be Billy,
And not the other person’s faulty objections.
Somewhere along the line, he got the notion
That if someone’s mad at him,
It’s not right to keep doing the right thing.
The anger of others is the remote control
That either shuts him down or
Changes his channel every time.
Every time.
It is Kryptonite to his inner Superman.
He has no idea that so much of what
Makes them mad in the first place
Is his own dealing with realities
They’d rather they are running from themselves.
Nor does he realize how often,
In his quest to avoid their anger,
He ends up doing without reality himself
And he doesn’t realize the depth
Of the anxiety and depression
That he suffers as a result of this cause―
Nor how much the others suffer
When he shuts down and won’t
Help them stand up themselves
For what is true and just.
And never in a thousand years
Is Billy likely to figure this out
Without someone helping him to see it
And showing him how to be courageous
Around people who are mad at the truth.
