There's so much pressure nowadays

On kids and young adults.

Pressure to meet every benchmark,

And to have X amount of extracurriculars,

And to do damn well on the ACT,

And to earn X amount of dollars,

And it's frustrating,

How you can work so hard,

And yet people don't always understand

That you have a life,

And don't have the time or the desire to become a prodigy,

So they question your intelligence,

Because maybe your grade point average is not enough in their eyes,

Even though every night when you finish your homework

You are absolutely burned

From trying to get everything done.

But unless the number on your test results proves you're something more,

You're still stupid in other people's eyes.

Sometimes I feel like a prisoner,

Not because I'm caged in,

But because to so many people

I am nothing but a number.

It's so easy to get caught up

In "facts" and "statistics"

About "where you should be"

According to different institutions,

Like school,

Or the government,

Or your peers.

They try to nail you to the wall

With X amount of pins,

Crowning you with a numerical value,

That defines,

In their eyes,

Who you are.

But you are not a number.

You are more

Than an ACT score

Or a yearly income.

You are more than a number on a scale

Or the number of people you've kissed.

You are more than your GPA,

A bank account,

An IQ score,

A credit score,

A balance due,

More than the number of friends you have on Facebook

Or in real life;

You are more

Than the price of anything,

And despite what those GD institutions say,

Despite what Colleges,

Or governments,

Or doctors,

Or gossips say,

You are not defined

By a stupid number.

I haven't gone to college yet,

But I know damn well

That teaching kids to define their self worth on a number between 1 and 36

Is a fatal flaw in the system.

Who cares what's about the numbers?

You are not defined by a number.

You are defined by you.