What will people say…

An invisible prison surrounds many of us

Its walls are made of imagined whispers

Coming from people in our society

Who judge us constantly, convinced are we

At every mundane step that we take

We are afraid we’ve made a mistake

We worry about flouting a social norm

Or the negative opinion peers might form

We second-guess every single decision

Resulting in our actions losing precision

Applauded by others, we are on cloud nine

Societal approval is surely a good sign…

**

We live life conforming to traditions

Placing on ourselves undue restrictions

Yet the criticism does not cease

We bend ourselves some more to please

Until being original is a forgotten art

Being one with the crowd starts appearing smart.

**

All great achievements, remember we should

Were made by the person who alone stood

Professing something disdained by society

With no one to support him but the Almighty

Why are we then afraid to be different?

On pleasing others, why are we hell-bent?

When you have a mission, try standing alone

And when you succeed, the credit will be your own!