but this isn't their day.
This is an unmitigated terrain
of social media and peer pressure,
where if you don't meet the standard of beauty,
you’re told “wear some makeup.”
And if you do reach those unrealistic
and one-sided views of beauty,
you’re told “Still put on some makeup.”
Because in a society and system based on perfection,
you’re never enough
This is an age where we’re pulled into the principal’s office for outfits
that “trigger disturbances,”
while the real disturbances
walk the halls untouched.
This is an age where we scroll through highlight reels
of “perfect” lives we’ll never live,
comparing them to ours,
laying in bed,
surrounded by LED lights
and mirrors we dread looking into.
This is an age where schools cry “bully,”
but never observe the bullying and harm
we inflict on ourselves.
An age that “claims” to accept you if you're gay,
until you say it out loud.
Then, you're at best tolerated.
If you don’t have a boyfriend,
you’re naive.
If you do have a boyfriend,
you’re clingy.
This is an age where we seek comfort
in music and shows on the big screens,
only to be policed on
when and how we can turn to them.
This is an age where once we muster up the courage
to look in the mirror,
we are obsessed not because we are vain,
but because we need to spend every second
overanalyzing our features,
trying to find a solution
for why everyone seems to hate us,
why we are so unlovable.
This is an age
designed to make us
hate ourselves,
plagued by Facetune
and premature aging.
This is an age like never before.
So don’t blame it on our phones.
Because these systems and ideals
are evolutions of ones you put in place.
And it is doomed to happen again,
unless we shatter the mirror,
before it shatters us.
--Cecilia G., 6th-8th Grade