Double Standard

Remley Nance

The typical high school stereotypes.

There’s the nerd.

The jock.

The popular girl.

The basket case.

Yet none of that lies here.

Instead there’s this unseen divide

Of the undoubtedly “popular” kids

And those not worth looking at.

Now, those “popular” kids

Do nothing.

They don’t try.

Instead, they bring those who are trying down.

Like clipping off a bird’s wing.

Now, I may not know their backgrounds

Or what goes on at home,

But what I don’t get is

Why not try to make things better for themselves?

They create such an imposing presence

Like a guard tower in a prison

Where those not worth looking at

Throw away their voices.

While the popular kids talk and talk and talk.

Throughout my whole life,

I’ve seen a pattern.

Not one of geometric shapes, that was 8th grade.

But a double standard.

Between the “popular” kids and those who rarely rebel.

They feel so anxious to speak out

As if their words get sucked in an empty void.

So they don’t.

They hold every bit of anger, of irritation, of frustration

And they never let the steam out.

Every once in a while, some steam escapes,

In the form of a small sentence.

“Do you mind?”

“Let me finish.”

“Just stop for a minute.”

That steam could burn or simply pass by.

Yet what is common when it escapes

Is the “popular” kids’ reactions.

They gawk, they laugh, they ooh and aah

As if we are zoo animals.

Yet the “popular” kids?

They speak whatever’s on their mind.

They belittle our work

And yet they have nothing of their own.

Baffling, isn’t it?

How those who do nothing

Tear down those who do something.

The double standard here is

Those who have nothing to say

Say everything.

And those who have something to say

Say nothing.

And when they do

When the steam is released,

It always floats by.

In front of their faces, it dissipates.

As if they said nothing at all.

I see this with teachers, too.

If they say something remotely rude,

The student can report them.

Now they live in fear of losing their job

And of the student who reported them.

When teachers do speak out,

Many times they are disregarded

As if they’re one of the kids

Not worth

Looking at.

Now, I’m sure you remember

A time when you stood up to someone.

Maybe it was a bully.

Maybe it was a family member, hopefully not.

Maybe it was someone who broke your confidence.

It felt refreshing, didn’t it?

To know you have a voice against

Those who bring you down.

Now imagine if that feeling is gone.

The silence, the unbearable silence.

Just because we don’t have courage

To say something “out of line,”

Doesn’t mean we have nothing to say at all.

If I may speak for the quiet kids,

The anxious kids,

The careful teachers,

This double standard needs to stop.

Thank you.