dear adults, we are our own dust over your conformed diamonds

Thomas Carlyle once said, “No pressure, no diamonds.”

Dear adults,

This generation consists of teens who are pressured by society, and adults alike.

As teens, we face constant pressure by these adults in all areas of life, pressure like diamonds. Diamonds are formed under pressure, but are we really these perfect diamonds you speak of?

Adults, you may think that we need to strive to be these perfect diamonds. Or, that the constant pressure you instill in us can lead to great success, but it can also lead to our own personal formation of dust.

We are teens, we are not diamonds. In no way are we perfect, and we will never be, but that is the beauty of us.

As teens, we are all diverse with our own internal qualities, ideas, and minds. We are the generation of innovators, creative thinkers, activist, and we are among so many powerful leaders.

Our generation, has, and will continue to face so much. Together, we will overcome this societal pressure, and we will face the problems being handed down to us.

Overall, your pressure may have destroyed us in some ways. We may not be living within the standards that you have created for us, and we may not be your ideal diamonds. However, we are our own diamonds. We have picked ourselves up and together we are creating something more beautiful than a diamond.

We are able to recognize our individuality, our diversity, our similarities and differences. We may look like dust in your eyes, but just wait. The dust that you may see now, will leave an imprint on all future generations to follow. That dust is the same dust that will continue to form all of the innovators, creative thinkers, activist, and powerful leaders of our generation.

We know you may be disappointed that we look like dust and not diamonds, or that we still are not up to your standards. However, in our generation, everyone is accepted, diamond or not, because we have set our own standards.

And I give it to you, without your pressure we may have never gotten to where we are, but with it, we will never get to where you want us to be either.

- a hopeful teen

To end, Maya Angelou once said, "Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity."

I hope that our generation does not lay down that white flag of conformity. May we rise, and survive.