When You're A Kid You Start With A, B, C

         "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. When you read you begin with A, B, C. When you sing you begin with Do-Re-Mi." I quote the genius that is The Sound of Music because of the pure simplicity and innocence of it. Well...maybe not the part where the Nazi's invaded Austria and wanted to kill the VonTrapp's...but we can overlook that. Regardless, this song is the absolute embodiment of innocence. I can't tell you how many times just this week I have longed for the days when the only significance of A, B, C were letters of the alphabet. A way to make your way to the beginning.
          Today if I hear A, B, C, D, or F, all I can think of are the smudges that turn up on my transcript four times a year. Those indicators of how much we're worth in school. The indicator of what college you'll have a chance of getting in to. The ultimate indicator of your future. There's this enormous pressure to get good grades in today's day in age--especially with all the competition today. All the while, we have assemblies encouraging us about how "grades aren't everything". It seems a little contradictory if you ask me.
           When I was younger grades came easily. I worked well, did what the teacher asked, and got all A's. There was no cramming for exams. No hours of homework a night. I had time for myself in which I could waste hours filling my mind with Spongebob Squarepants's laughter. I could sit down and read a good book. On days like today I'm lucky to fit in a half hour sitcom with my family and writing this blog before I go to bed. Now when I get home from school and all I want to do is have a snack, watch some TV, and just relax for a little bit, all that goes through my head is "you have a math test that's worth 25% of your grade, a French test you're unprepared for, a French group project, and an undone Chemistry lab due tomorrow, and you're relaxing?! Get to work!"
             Watch out tomorrow at school. I'm a little afraid my mind is going to spontaneously combust one of these days. I keep piling on Speeches to make, U.S. presidents to memorize, French verb tenses to conjugate, equations to work out, what happens when you light which gases on fire, all while trying not to get hit with a dodge ball. Eventually, stuff is going to start spilling out.