Do not mess up-

we’ll hover you every step of the way

or step back and let you sink or swim-

but do not mess up.

Thrown into a car,

handed a little plastic card,

given freedom,

but it could kill someone.

Enjoy these fleeting years,

we wish we could go back,

but also have everything you’ve ever known be upheaved

and take on these responsibilities that determine your life.

Go from blissful ignorance

to painful knowledge,

from joy of just being alive and always curious,

to tears in the night as you sob over stress.

Good grades,

hard worker,

involved in clubs-

do it all,

or else God forbid you from wanting to focus on one only.

Education,

Education,

EDUCATION,

we scream at the top of our lungs,

teach these concepts and learn through worksheets,

not through the experience of physical touch and true application.

Know how to derive a function,

but not know how to function as an independent being.

 

The pilot is flying.

In control of everything, supposedly.

They have had training, practical application, and are licensed to even clean the gears!

This is their first, last, and only flight.

Shall they sink or swim?

One chance,

many pressures and contradictory expectations-

shall they sink or swim?