My frustration is tangible and I laugh,
I laugh due to the utter unfairness.
You don’t qualify, says the staff.
You’re not eligible.
They show me the composite number that tells me
I’m not even smart enough
To be in their presence.
My eyes roll because I’m tired—
This is just another setup.
If I become of those who follow you,
Next thing I know, I can’t find a way
A way to care for myself.
Do you mean to tell me I got an education that can’t do anything for me?
Do you mean to tell me I just paid thousands of dollars for an education that can’t help me pay you back?
My eyes roll because I’m tired—
This is just another setup.
Now, I’m banging on my parent’s door,
Begging them to give me my old room back,
Just so I can have a roof over my head.
I’m thinking to myself,
I have a Ph.D. in medicine,
Why do I have a part-time job at McDonald’s?
Do you mean to tell me I spent four years of high school trying to get into a prestigious college, only so it can fail me?
Do you mean to tell me I worked hard during college for absolutely nothing, just so I could become under-employed?
And she just looks at me.
She can’t understand what I’m going through because she has her own troubles.
She’s got a family of her own – three children, and a husband that suggested divorce to her last night.
She’s sitting behind this desk, in a room that’s got the name “GUIDANCE COUNSELOR” on the door, me sitting in front of her.
But that’s not what she is.
She’s not a “GUIDANCE COUNSELOR.”
She can hardly guide herself.
So, I can’t be angry at her for merely staring into my eyes for a brief second,
then giving a brief shrug of her shoulders.
That’s just the way it is she tells me.
Of course.
Of course that’s just the way it is.
My eyes roll because I’m tired—
This is just another setup.
