Laughing of the Muted Crowd

Everybody’s tired.

Nobody rests.

Some people laugh.

Some people stay quiet.

⸻

Everybody’s tired, nobody rests

We wear pain like a secondhand dress

World spins fast, we’re stuck in place

Smiling online while we rot in our face

Someone falls and the cameras rise

Pain goes viral, empathy dies

Every corner’s got a comment section

Every scar gets an inspection

Kids grow up on hate for sport

Likes get paid for tearing apart

Cruelty’s loud, kindness whispers

Silence trains a thousand bullies

⸻

It’s easier to laugh than to feel it too

Easier to judge than admit it’s you

If I don’t react, I can’t be wrong

If I stay quiet, I last longer

⸻

This life is heavy on everyone

But we pretend we’re the only one

So we laugh when somebody breaks

Like it won’t be us that shakes

Hands in pockets, heads bowed low

Laughing soft so it doesn’t show

Everybody hurts in different ways

But it’s safer to turn away

So we dim the sound, shut it down

And survive inside the muted crowd

⸻

We clap for downfall, cancel grace

Love a villain, hate a face

If you’re poor, you’re lazy

If you’re hurting, you’re crazy

They say “grow thicker skin”

Like numbness is how you win

So I pack my feelings small

Hope they don’t spill at all

We don’t throw stones, we throw words

Sharper than fists, just as absurd

Mock the wounded, feed our fears

Then wonder why the world feels wrong this year

⸻

I don’t clap

I don’t boo

I just stand where no one’s true

⸻

This world’s on fire, we roast the flame

Turn real suffering into a game

We call it jokes, call it “fun”

Till the joke’s us—then everyone runs

Everybody’s drowning silently

But silence feels like safety

So we dim the sound, shut it down

And survive inside the muted crowd

⸻

What if pain wasn’t entertainment?

What if helping wasn’t embarrassing?

What if we paused the jokes

Let the broken finish speaking?

Would we recognize ourselves

Without the laugh track playing?

⸻

This life is heavy, yeah, it’s true

But it doesn’t have to be cruel too

Less laughter at pain

More listening—

That’s how it changes.