All the adults see us as ‘the future of the nation.’ They look at us and plan our whole lives for us. They act like our lives are written for us; all we’re doing is acting the parts that they they’ve chosen for us to play.
We make one mistake, and it’s “Oh! No! Why must you be so dumb?” We speak our minds one time: “Wow, your ideas are stupid! Can’t you come up with anything better?” We stand up for ourselves once: “Great! You’re going into the ‘I think I’m more important than anyone else’ stage.”
The people who are running our country now, only see us as unrealized replicas of themselves. To them, I’m going to be some successful business woman; or a wealthy secretary of some sort. But, what if that’s not what I want? What if I want to be something completely different? An actress, a singer, a designer? What if I want to make my dreams realities? Why are all these possibilities crossed off my list just because my elders don’t like them?
They’ve written our lives out for us. They’ve labeled us as the ‘future.’ I don’t want to be called that any longer! I want to be known as “Lindsey, the girl who will be choosing her own future; when the time comes for it.”
My parents will never see me as more than a business worker. My teachers will hardly ever realize the side of me that they don’t see. The side of me that wants to be recognized as something more than ‘the future.’