The other day my guidance counselor Mrs. Solovay
Called me into her office
Into a crossed out corner of this
Outdated newspaper clipping
In that prison cell
Where nobody usually goes
Because like me,
Most of my school is fearful of the future.
And this is what she said:
Shelby, you should really boost you’re GPA
Here, try a couple of online classes,
Oh, and you can download this app.
On your iphone,
Their SAT flashcards.
So I took a step off of the cusp of composure
Into a fit of surreal dazzling disgust
As I whip out my brick sized
Military prized weapon of destruction
From inside the lint filled supernova of my pocket
Like Batman’s nemesis
Hitting the detonation button on the Gotham city in my cranium
Because I exploded on that lady.
In a fit of sarcasm, spit, and the utmost respect
I said sure.
And while I’m at it
Let me yank out an ipad
From the rings of a sappy tree
Crying over the idea that I can’t utilize a textbook anymore
Because shel silverstein proved
That simplicity is more than giving up
Your long living tea light
Only lasting 2 feet in a blackened forest
For an oil lantern or light bulb
Just so you don’t have to strain your eyes
There is something lovely in tradition.
Unique antiques and libraries shouldn’t be extinct.
Those online classes just don’t cut it miss,
Because that classic classroom cannot be substituted
By a computer screen
As they sit on their asses doing nothing.
Regurgitating, pasting and copying, anything but learning.
It doesn’t make for good casual conversation, miss.
Because the last time I got my family to sit at a dinner table,
I had to make the event on facebook!
Over a happy meal dipped in artificial fillers
Filled with roller over minutes to save time and money.
As technology transforms into a smart phone
our mediocre thoughts become dumb and alone.
Socially awkward, overweight, afraid of the sun.
But it’s all just begun
Tumblr twitter facebook pintrest
Social bloggers with no social life
And YouTube stars with an inferiority complex.
Instead of those flash cards ill give you a news flash.
Everything doesn’t have to be now.
Instant popcorn, instant pudding
Frozen dinners microwavable vegetables
Faster food faster life faster lane
Enough.
Any second lost is a second wasted
Instantaneous.
Its time we realize what worth the wait actually means
Because right now, nothing qualifies.
But if we open our eyes
Our live long lives have no purpose
Except to be entertained
We have no plague to pick off our children,
No war to carry home our husbands in body bags,
Nothing to strive for,
No natural disaster to die for.
Nothing to make us appreciate being alive
The new meaning of life is to survive.
Once I caught myself
Sitting on a couch for 14 hours
playing angry birds.
Technology is ruining my life!
Who cares if we die?
I don’t want a hollow time span
Because of something as lowly as a shrinking attention span.
Running around in circles
Like a game with no finish line.
But instead I told Mrs. Solovay this:
James Madison traveled for 3 weeks
By horse.
To attend the constitutional convention
Held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
That of which only lasted 3 days
To shape the spine and backbone of this country with nothing more than a pen,
 working on time and dedication.
When’s the last time you dedicated 3 weeks on anything good?