What if?

What if you were born in Libya
Would your life be the same?
If you were born in Tunisia
Would you set yourself aflame?
And if you were born in Syria
Would you know what freedom means?
If you were born in Somalia
Would your tastes be the same?
If we were born on a different day
A different time
In another place
Could we say
Would we be the same?
Did you grow up in America
Did you survive the wars?
Or if you were born in China
Could you be a boy or a girl?
If you were born in South Africa
And joined the ANC
Would you have fought apartheid
To set your people free ?
If we were born on a different day
A different time
In another place
Could we say
Would we be the same?
I've heard a say we get to choose our mom and dad
I've heard a say we don't choose our brothers and sisters
Can this be the only life we have?
Kind of strange the way we appeared on earth
Kind of strange how we came into this world
What if you were born in slavery
Would the sun still shine?
If you were born in poverty
Would you have peace of mind?
If you fought for democracy
Would you still have faith?
And if you were born Aung San Suu Kyi
Would you have kept your dignity?
If we were born on a different day
A different time
In another place
Could we say
Would we be the same?