inscribed by influenya

27 years old today is me,
Divide that by three and that's how long it took to make me.
I was born on a Sunday, yet today is a Saturday,
But the Sunday of next year will be my date of birth and my 28th birthday,
What I mean is that it will be the day of the week my parents first saw me,
Even though all I wanted to do was sleep.

My goal is Forbes's 30 under 30 before I'm 30,
Something I should have worked harder for in my 20s,
However, now I have something that I absolutely adore,
and I have made the decision that I want to fully explore.

I enjoy learning and teaching and finding new ways of reaching the minds of our youth,
Because right now the path that has been set is a trap not a successful route.
I want the generation I teach to love to learn just as much as I do,
For inside every child there is something you never knew.
I am patient enough to dive into their minds and show them their imagination is something they can pursue,
because NO child is stupid or dumb, each child is special and I will give them the time they need to make their debut.

I want to be the person who gets to know who they are and their natural curiosities,
because in each and every child's mind there are incredible qualities.
And our current policies and ideologies are not conducive to learning but only for studies,
I know that I have the skills and the drive to produce a generation of prodigies,
The future who will be the ones in control of our current drowning economies,
so their current little minds fantasies can create new technologies, agencies and strategies.

27 years old today is me,
Divide that by nine and add them together and I'll be thirty,
I know in my heart and mind that this is my life's calling; my journey,
something that I clearly know I can do and commit to fully,
Because in 365 days¹ —135 days²— it will be my birth date and my birth day,
and nothing can stop this dream I have and no one will get in my way.
Not even myself.

¹number of days since February 13, 2021

²number of days since this podcast was published

I have been so sad that I just can’t cry,
Or so angry but I can not figure out why.
I have felt so much joy that tears fall from my eyes,
Or frustration so intense I allow a part of myself die.
I have  felt them all at once like my mind is a blender?
Maybe I’d be forced to wave the white flag and surrender?
Perhaps if I wrote each emotion a sincere letter,
Afterwards it might make me feel any better?

Dear Sadness,
I hope you won’t stay forever even though you’ve helped me appreciate the light,
I can’t spend so many days under the still darkness of night,
It can be so overwhelming when you take over because I feel I can not fight,
Though I understand why you think what you’re doing is right.

Dear Anger,
I really hope you don’t turn into an undying rage,
Because if you trap me there I’ll be living in a cage,
My mind will get so exhausted that I might start to age,
And I’d be sad if I couldn’t write words to fill another page.

Dear Joy,
I must thank you for letting me see the world in all its glory,
Because you have allowed me another day to write my story,
Even though my mind might occupy this space so wrongly,
So I must thank you dearly for feeling joy so strongly.

Dear Frustration,
Ah the last on the list, we have a relationship with a little twist,
When I am overwhelmed I feel you so potently I wish I didn’t exist,
Regardless of what the feeling of Joy might have wanted to insist.
You’re the emotion that I go to when I have felt each one thoroughly and I can not resist.
When right now I don’t possess the power to desist,
Even if Joy keeps telling me to never give up and to always persist.
Frustration, to me you are the most complex and draining of them all,
As if when I’m done with you I can barely walk let alone crawl.
When I’m with you I can’t separate you from the others,
Because when you blend them together they all get smothered,
Yet I’d like to feel them each by themselves not all together,
So if you could help me out by hearing the words I’ve written in this letter.