I like teenagers. If I start hating them, I probably shouldn't be a teacher.
But look at me. Telling these young whippersnappers to get off my lawn. Sitting in this computer lab shushing kids like a librarian stereotype.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Keep it down.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
I effin' hate this.
It's spring break in 20 minutes and I'm asking them to focus.
I remember being 15. I hated school, I hated teachers, I hated adults. It was YOLO before Drake could even walk. It was trending before hashtags. I just wanted to have fun. No, sir, I don't have a hall pass. Yes, sir, I'll go back to class. No, ma'am, I don't know where that came from. Yes, ma'am, I'm sorry.
Now look at me.
The enemy.
Maybe I'm just bitter. Maybe I'm taking my baldness out on them. My sore ankle. My lost adolescence.
There's an elephant in this room. They call him The Future. He's wearing sunglasses and knows everything. He's the coolest kid in the neighborhood, with the whitest teeth, but everyone's too intimidated to look him in the eye.
We all know he's there, but I'm the only one who's taking him seriously. These kids are too busy giggling and No way, are you serious? and Shut up and Ha ha hee hee ha ha hee.
But look at me. Telling these young whippersnappers to get off my lawn. Sitting in this computer lab shushing kids like a librarian stereotype.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Keep it down.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
I effin' hate this.
It's spring break in 20 minutes and I'm asking them to focus.
I remember being 15. I hated school, I hated teachers, I hated adults. It was YOLO before Drake could even walk. It was trending before hashtags. I just wanted to have fun. No, sir, I don't have a hall pass. Yes, sir, I'll go back to class. No, ma'am, I don't know where that came from. Yes, ma'am, I'm sorry.
Now look at me.
The enemy.
Maybe I'm just bitter. Maybe I'm taking my baldness out on them. My sore ankle. My lost adolescence.
There's an elephant in this room. They call him The Future. He's wearing sunglasses and knows everything. He's the coolest kid in the neighborhood, with the whitest teeth, but everyone's too intimidated to look him in the eye.
We all know he's there, but I'm the only one who's taking him seriously. These kids are too busy giggling and No way, are you serious? and Shut up and Ha ha hee hee ha ha hee.
This is the worst flirting I've ever seen.
They pretend like they don't see him there, staring at them. You know how teenagers are. Like they're all performing and the cameras just started rolling. We may as well be in the stands of a football game on a Friday night and the boy we like is sitting right behind us.
I'm not saying I wish I was them. Because I don't. When I was 15, Puberty was just a monster under the bed. So those weren't the glory days for me.
Maybe I'm just waiting for the bell to ring too.
They pretend like they don't see him there, staring at them. You know how teenagers are. Like they're all performing and the cameras just started rolling. We may as well be in the stands of a football game on a Friday night and the boy we like is sitting right behind us.
I'm not saying I wish I was them. Because I don't. When I was 15, Puberty was just a monster under the bed. So those weren't the glory days for me.
Maybe I'm just waiting for the bell to ring too.
"This is the worst flirting I've ever seen."
ReplyDeleteI'm the great pretender.
"Maybe I'm just bitter. Maybe I'm taking my baldness out on them."
ReplyDeleteThat made me giggle.
your ankle hahhahahha
ReplyDeleteThis is so good. Takes you back and forward and leaves you here all at the same time.
ReplyDeleteif I didn't know who you were, I'd wanna know.
ReplyDeleteHahaha I wish people wrote like you more often. Light and heavy. Funny, but still leaves you thinking. Like Priscilla Belle said, it takes you back and forth. The best thing is that the way you write leaves every reader open to feeling anything. It makes them pull out their own notebooks and write back.
ReplyDeleteYou set an example and give them something to take at the same time. It's a good thing you're the teacher here.
(I say "them" but don't know exactly who "them" is. I guess it's me and anyone else who agrees with me.)
(I just assume that's everyone.)
Sometimes it's easy to feel like adults have it all figured out with their rules and expectations. But they don't. No one does. Maybe that's why it's so beautiful when we're able to connect through words on paper or in this case my computer screen. How you and me are in completely different points in our life and the girl who sits next to me in art and the boy who sits on the back row we're all going through some shit or on the verge of an epiphany yet we find a way to relate with one another to make us feel like we're not alone. I don't know im rambling it's early and I can't fall back asleep. This post just got to me. Maybe adults aren't as scary as they seem. Maybe they are just as scared.
ReplyDelete"maybe im just waiting for the bell to ring too."
Nobody looks him in the eye......
ReplyDeleteSo true..