Slam

Expectations

Please give me something anything to write down on this page.

Because right now the only thing I can think of is sadness.

And anger.

And frustration.

And everything that arises when I think of the one word that has and will define my life.

Expectations.

These can cause a building to crumble,

A family to break down,

A teenager to commit suicide;

They can put one person under so much pressure that they eventually just break.

Just break and break.

And keep breaking until they can no longer hold themselves up.

Until they can no longer do anything.

They have become such a microscopic fragment of who they used to be,

That, when they squint into the mirror,

They see nothing but a dot.

A dot that is black and dark and useless,

Only to be wiped away like dirt.

I heard a man say,

"I don't have expectations"

They asked him why and he said,

"Because I will always be disappointed"

He will always be disappointed.

Always.

And that disappointment can make or break a person.

It will shape into, either,

A twisted dark snake that will slither into every aspect of their lives

Until it has covered all grounds and

Corrupted everything in sight.

Or it will make that person better

Make them reach higher

Make them see clearer

And work harder,

Only to end up meeting the expectations of others.

To be a "hard worker"

Or a "useful asset".

What, so just because I don't meet your so called 'expectations' I'm not an asset?

Just because I'm not exactly who you want me to be I'm not an asset?

Just because I've been broken down and built up, with shards sticking out this way and that,

With bone still cracked and hearts still broken,

With minds still frazzled and no set goal in life,

I'm not an asset?

Try saying that to homeless man I just walked by.

Try saying that to the mother of four with no food for her children.

Try telling that to the man who has not met any expectations.

Just because I'm not your creation does not mean I am not an asset.

Just because I don't think with your mind

Or walk with your feet,

Just because I do not wear your clothes or live in your house,

DOES NOT MEAN I AM NOT AN ASSET

There is a woman out there with no spouse,

But four kids.

They all go to public school that ends at 3.

But they get home at 10,

And she doesn't know.

She can't know because she's working three jobs at once to buy their clothes.

She's working three jobs at once to give food for her children.

She does not have time to fill out the permission form;

She will work through a storm to do anything for her kids.

And yet she does not meet your expectations.

So what are your expectations?

What are your expectations?

Are they having nice gelled blond hair and going to work every morning?

Are they earning 8 digits a year and living in a huge mansion?

Are they that the rich buy cars and the poor starve?

Are they that the black are in gangs and that all Muslims are terrorists?

Are they that all the intelligent make it big and the dense get nothing?

Because if they are, ain't nobody gonna meet your expectations.