Young Writers Society

What were you in school for?

Amassing stellar grades?

A𝐍D / O𝐑

Developing lifelong skills?

~

Ideally, it should be 

AND not OR.

But IRL, students focus on the former 

and neglect the latter.

~

Four soul-sucking years later, 

gilded chains now adorned their necks.

Those medals choked like a noose, 

squeezing the last breath from their chests.

~

One narcissistic Facebook post later,

With a record number of likes on their new grad pic,

The illusion shattered.

~

They'd been released into a jungle -

Cast bare and naive into the savage wilds.

Prey for the wolves

of the REAL WORLD.

~

Panic flooded their veins.

The mental prison now a physical one.

Flight or fight kicked in, but they could do neither.

Frozen. Paralyzed. Caged and cornered.

~

They should have been

the apex predators.

Hunting, tracking, 

stalking with skill and cunning.

~

Instead they cowered, 

quivered, ran.

Pathetic prey 

in a competitive kill-or-be-killed jungle.

~

Clueless they stood. 

Powerless.

Minds atrophied from disuse.

Hands too weak to grasp opportunity.

~

For they had become robots, 

not humans.

Programmed achievement-seekers, 

not free-thinking trailblazers.

~

In despair they grieved.

D𝑒n𝑖a𝑙. 

A𝑛g𝑒r. 

𝐵a𝑟g𝑎i𝑛i𝑛g. 

𝐷e𝑝r𝑒s𝑠i𝑜n. 

𝐴c𝑐e𝑝t𝑎n𝑐e.

~

But left with no choice,

They will move forward in life

Onward they marched, not yet aware,

Blindly moving on through smoke and mirrors..

~

At journey's end, 

a new degree was conferred.

Not one earned through years of diligent study.

But a title honed through hardship and failure:

~

Masters of improvisation, smoke and mirrors.

Conniving chameleons. Crafty pretenders.

Silver-tongued fakers flourishing by fluke.

Masters in 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠.

_____

𝐏. 𝐒.

𝐿𝑜𝑜𝑘, 𝐼’𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡 – 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎 𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑦𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠.

𝐷𝑖𝑑 𝐼 𝑔𝑜 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡?

𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦.

𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠.

𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦'𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛'𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑥𝑖𝑐 𝑐𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙.

𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑠 𝑛𝑢𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦.

𝑆𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛, 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑.

𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑, 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡.

𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒, 𝑚𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑟, 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎.