Twelve years in the classroom hasn’t prepared us for this

We’re expected to know the answers

To get them right on the first try

All without raising our hands.

Those teachers, those parents

“Pick a college, pick a major.”

They tell us

“Make a decision right now,”

“Don’t fail us.”

Our parents, our teachers

They figure, we know ourselves

Well enough

To figure out what to do with our lives

“What are you good at?

What do you like?”

They ask ceaselessly

As if they are trying to figure out our future for us

We shrug our shoulders and mumble “I don’t know”

Because in all we honestly we just don’t know

How can we make a decision that will last us for years?

How can we be free when we’re still controlled by our fears?

Money is always tight.

Who wants to take out a loan?

Will the worry about money keep us up all night?

Will we have enough money to afford a phone?

How do we know where we want to go

Or what we want to learn

We haven’t traveled the world

We don’t know what our minds yearn

So we’re spinning in circles

Trying to delay

The decisions we’ll have to inevitably make

Our future is uncertain

It has and always will be

And we don’t know where we’ll be in ten years or two

But we sure hope we have what it takes to get through

And we sure hope that we can afford to buy shoes.