To Anyone Who Cares

In my childhood,my teacher told me I'll be very

successful because I always did my homework.

My mother bragged about me to her friends

because I was always indoors studying and

memorizing textbooks

I knew all the procedures to create a nuclear

weapon and even conduct a heart surgery when

I had never seen any of those

My father taught me how to impress my employers

someday but not how to be happy

My father never had to get to the point where he

would say,"I wish my son had done this but he

chose another path so I'm learning to appreciate

and love him just the way he is".

I  always walked in my father's plans for me which

according to him he was unable to achieve

himself including chartering to be an accountant

My father said there are lots of opportunities and

money in that field but,what I wanted to be

no one asked

So I had to halt my dreams of studying theatre

arts because the old man says they only pay

peanuts in such profession plus the world will

mock me

I always performed at drama in my Sunday

school days,my Sunday school madam often

told me never to let go of that gift.Last month

I entered into a club with similar people who are

hurting from making similar decisions as I did

I saw men who knew they had what it takes to be

architects end up as school teachers because

they failed to make the grade in their high school

days on subjects which had nothing to do

with their future

I've seen men shed tears in pain because their

gifts of being a medical doctor proved futile due

to some letters on a piece of paper

I met people who attempted suicide because they

were tired of re-sitting examinations when they

know their dream profession had nothing to

do with textbooks

Today,I'm writing my heart out to anyone who cares

to glance through,I write from a very spacious

office fully air-conditioned but

I'm locked up in my own head surrounded by men

in suit and a suffocating tie whose only passion is

talking about the stock market

I wake up every Monday morning with regrets that

I had not gone for that audition earlier, that I had

not followed Mike to the school of performing arts,

that I had not given a shot to my dream and failed

rather than having to sit amidst professionals who

mistake lust for making money to be

making lasting memories.