"The Never-Ending Chase"

I have a question for all of you, why must we rise?

Is it for greatness? for achievements? or scared that if we don’t, people will criticize

Cause in their eyes mistakes that we make aren’t lessons

They put aside our successes, instead mistakes that we make from guesses to questions is what they prioritize.

When presenting wrong answers to them it feels like a sin.

I’m sorry your next of kin couldn’t be what you thought I should have been.

I’m losing myself, my own true identity.

Why is it that failure is all that you can see?

I just don’t get it, how are they so blind to see

I mean, you hear it all the time, when you can’t do it anymore you say? “Ma.. Pa.. Di ko na keri”

You find that funny? They did too. They liked my joke, they thought it was a joke but in reality?

We say it because we can’t bear the weight they make us carry.

You make us work and judge us line by line

Who cares if we’re tired as long as we’re deemed “refined”

We push ourselves to our limits to the point of defeat,

Because success to you lies on how fast I complete

All of this? You treat it like a race, a race where I can't catch up but you make me keep up with their pace

Cause I am nothing to you if I am in last place.

You say that I’m behind, as if I didn’t try,

You don’t see how hard I’ve worked, the way I’ve cried.

You entrap me in a cage where I see others fly

Anything I try you reply with insults and sighs.

You ignore me when the color of my certificate is blue

when all I ever wanted to hear was “Nak, I’m proud of you”

But what if our worth wasn’t defined by trophies or medals

What if our worth isn’t defined by certificates or levels

Expectations and pressure are a lot to bear,

But just let yourself relax and breathe the air.

Cause we are more than just the grades that are being printed out.

These numbers and marks are something that we can live without.

Be passionate!! Be artistic!! Be the people you want to be

Your creativity is what breaks down these walls and makes us free.

An elocution piece by Jeremiah Lee of Grade 10. Delivered through spoken poetry.