By Emily Y., TIWP Student

The clock is ticking, 
the pace is quickening. 
The kids are scraping tooth and nail
to be unique.
What if we could have known
what to do since childhood,
like the instructions of a Lego set,
putting our lives together,
piece by piece,
while knowing the end result
would make a home?

Comparison grips the students
when grades quietly define your future
and somehow
everyone knows what to do.
Go, go, go!
Make yourself look good on paper!
Have the perfect extracurriculars!
Challenge yourself!
GPA, GPA, GPA!
Do your homework!
Don’t drown
but if you do,
you’ll be more behind
and drown even more.

If you’re the same as every applicant
you’re not special.
If you’re too different,
people judge.
What’s the medium?
If you walk in this crowd,
you won’t leave a trace,
so walk outside.
Well, now you’re alone.
College counselor and tutors say
to keep it up and you nod,
trying to stay
in the exact same place
with a shaky frame.

Surely this can’t be what we’re made for.

The pressure to do well
is crushing
and the reality of something more
is fleeting.
Secret competition
and exhausting preoccupations
never stop
because no one else does.
We’re at war with ourselves
and everyone else.
Keep on going, going, going.
The clock is still ticking.
Your time is not up.