Grow Up Stay Young

A main question on my mind is how am I old and young at the same time?

This question comes to mind when I’m told to act mature because that’s what the person a year older than me is

But then I become that age and I’ll make a little mistake

I’m told it’s fine because people my age are a little bit immature

In 5th grade, they told us to act more like 6th graders

In 6th grade, they told us to stop acting like 5th graders

But if we act like 6th graders in 5th grade,

then why are teachers complaining for how we act as if comparing us to a lower grade would maintain our energy and playfulness

 

I’m constantly informed to behave the age I am,

yet when I’m around people older than me,

they’re more childish than I’ve been told by adults who try to accommodate my growing up

and when I hear someone talk about them,

they justify their behavior with a simple, “They’re young. It happens”

 

When I take the advice of acting older, I’m always asked “What’s wrong with you? You’re not being yourself.”

Why am I being told to act one away and when I try, I’m suddenly an ass for being what people tell me to be?

But I realize that I have to grow in my own away in my own time

To ignore people telling me to act older or to be the old me

I need to learn what it's like to be here and to not be called immature for my age or to be assumed as more mature because I'm not what I once was last year

Each year, I'm me

Maybe a little

Or Maybe a lot different

 

With age comes wisdom

But what I know in my head doesn't always affect who I am

I'll know that the first 10 digits of pi is 3.141592653

And even then,

I'll most likely act like a 5 year old to a 5 year old to make them laugh and have fun

Maybe it's not what older people are supposed to do but with my so called teenage rebellion,

I don't really care for what others will say when I'm trying to act like the person I am

Not the person other people can just mold into whatever they want to please them instead of accepting what they'll get

This poem is about: 
Me

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