When I was a kid I used to think that pork chops and karate chops were the same thing, I thought they were both pork chops.

Lyrics

When I was a kid 
I used to think that pork chops and karate chops 
Were the same thing 
I thought they were both pork chops 
And because my grandmother thought it was cute 
And because they were my favourite 
She let me keep doing it 

Not really a big deal 

One day 
Before I realized fat kids are not designed to climb trees 
I fell out of a tree 
And bruised the right side of my body 

I didn't want to tell my grandmother about it 
Because I was afraid I'd get in trouble 
For playing somewhere that I shouldn't have been 

A few days later the gym teacher noticed the bruise 
And I got sent to the principal's office 
From there I was sent to another small room 
With a really nice lady 
Who asked me all kinds of questions 
About my life at home 

I saw no reason to lie 
As far as I was concerned 
Life was pretty good 
I told her “whenever I'm sad 
My grandmother gives me karate chops” 

This led to a full scale investigation 
And I was removed from the house for three days 
Until they finally decided to ask how I got the bruises 

News of this silly little story quickly spread through the school 
And I earned my first nickname 

Pork chop 

To this day 
I hate pork chops 

I'm not the only kid 
Who grew up this way 
Surrounded by people who used to say 
That rhyme about sticks and stones 
As if broken bones 
Hurt more than the names we got called 
And we got called them all 
So we grew up believing no one 
Would ever fall in love with us 
That we'd be lonely forever 
That we'd never meet someone 
To make us feel like the sun 
Was something they built for us 
In their tool shed 
So broken heart strings bled the blues 
As we tried to empty ourselves 
So we would feel nothing 
Don't tell me that hurts less than a broken bone 
That an ingrown life 
Is something surgeons can cut away 
That there's no way for it to metastasize 

It does 

She was eight years old 
Our first day of grade three 
When she got called ugly 
We both got moved to the back of the class 
So we would stop get bombarded by spit balls 
But the school halls were a battleground 
Where we found ourselves outnumbered day after wretched day 
We used to stay inside for recess 
Because outside was worse 
Outside we'd have to rehearse running away 
Or learn to stay still like statues giving no clues that we were there 
In grade five they taped a sign to her desk 
That read beware of dog 

To this day 
Despite a loving husband 
She doesn't think she's beautiful 
Because of a birthmark 
That takes up a little less than half of her face 
Kids used to say she looks like a wrong answer 
That someone tried to erase 
But couldn't quite get the job done 
And they'll never understand 
That she's raising two kids 
Whose definition of beauty 
Begins with the word mom 
Because they see her heart 
Before they see her skin 
That she's only ever always been amazing 

He 
Was a broken branch 
Grafted onto a different family tree 
Adopted 
But not because his parents opted for a different destiny 
He was three when he became a mixed drink 
Of one part left alone 
And two parts tragedy 

Started therapy in 8th grade 
Had a personality made up of tests and pills 
Lived like the uphills were mountains 
And the downhills were cliffs 
Four fifths suicidal 
A tidal wave of anti depressants 
And an adolescence of being called popper 
One part because of the pills 
And ninety nine parts because of the cruelty 
He tried to kill himself in grade ten 
When a kid who still had his mom and dad 
Had the audacity to tell him “get over it” as if depression 
Is something that can be remedied 
By any of the contents found in a first aid kit 

To this day 
He is a stick of TNT lit from both ends 
Could describe to you in detail the way the sky bends 
In the moments before it's about to fall 
And despite an army of friends 
Who all call him an inspiration 
He remains a conversation piece between people 
Who can't understand 
Sometimes becoming drug free 
Has less to do with addiction 
And more to do with sanity 

We weren't the only kids who grew up this way 
To this day 
Kids are still being called names 
The classics were 
Hey stupid 
Hey spaz 
Seems like each school has an arsenal of names 
Getting updated every year 
And if a kid breaks in a school 
And no one around chooses to hear 
Do they make a sound? 
Are they just the background noise 
Of a soundtrack stuck on repeat 
When people say things like 
Kids can be cruel? 
Every school was a big top circus tent 
And the pecking order went 
From acrobats to lion tamers 
From clowns to carnies 
All of these were miles ahead of who we were 
We were freaks 
Lobster claw boys and bearded ladies 
Oddities 
Juggling depression and loneliness playing solitaire spin the bottle 
Trying to kiss the wounded parts of ourselves and heal 
But at night 
While the others slept 
We kept walking the tightrope 
It was practice 
And yeah 
Some of us fell 

But I want to tell them 
That all of this shit 
Is just debris 
Leftover when we finally decide to smash all the things we thought 
We used to be 
And if you can't see anything beautiful about yourself 
Get a better mirror 
Look a little closer 
Stare a little longer 
Because there's something inside you 
That made you keep trying 
Despite everyone who told you to quit 
You built a cast around your broken heart 
And signed it yourself 
You signed it 
“they were wrong” 
Because maybe you didn't belong to a group or a click 
Maybe they decided to pick you last for basketball or everything 
Maybe you used to bring bruises and broken teeth 
To show and tell but never told 
Because how can you hold your ground 
If everyone around you wants to bury you beneath it 
You have to believe that they were wrong 

They have to be wrong 

Why else would we still be here? 
We grew up learning to cheer on the underdog 
Because we see ourselves in them 
We stem from a root planted in the belief 
That we are not what we were called we are not abandoned cars stalled out and sitting empty on a highway 
And if in some way we are 
Don't worry 
We only got out to walk and get gas 
We are graduating members from the class of 
Fuck off we made it 
Not the faded echoes of voices crying out 
Names will never hurt me 

Of course 
They did 

But our lives will only ever always 
Continue to be 
A balancing act 
That has less to do with pain 
And more to do with beauty