Expectations - A Spoken Word

All my life, I’ve had to live up to something. The expectations, Of my parents.

I love my parents, I really do. But don’t we all have that in-built fear, Of disappointing them in school?

It’s like, we don’t have the freedom to make mistakes, We need to get those straight As We don’t even think about it, Because it’s drilled into our system, And it’s so unfair.

It’s terrifying, how a number defines who we are, An 87 makes us happy, but a 66 makes us a failure, No one deserves that kind of pressure! Because this is not the way it should be, I got a C in math? I don’t need a lecture, I need your support! I need you to understand.

Now, if I'm being honest here, I spend a lot of time in my studies.

I'm not one of those super-gifted kids who don't need to work to get good grades, I do it with good, old-fashioned hard-work.

And sometimes, I mess up! I'm human too. But my parents only see.

They only see the ten laps I haven't run, And not the ten thousand, that I have.

And I can count, On the palm of my right hand, How many times my parents have seen those ten thousand laps, And how many times they’ve been disappointed. I hope, that someone in the future will change this, In which grades, a letter on a piece of paper, Doesn’t define your future, Because kids should get to be kids And not be weighed down, By these expectations.

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I'll be posting a video of me performing this soon! #spokenword #poems #teaandthoughts