Straight A Failure

from Ace Of All Trades by Derwood Bowen

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lyrics

I was smart when I was in school
Did my homework and followed the rules
Passed the tests, believed I'd go far
'Cause I worked very hard
To learn the things I was told

My parents and teachers were pleased
With my report cards of A's and B's
I was made to be proud of my grades
I was frequently praised
For how well I did what I was told

Pass the tests,
I did that so greatly
Do your work,
I did as they asked me

As I watched my peers get punished
For acting out of line
I knew I should be a good boy
That's how to get far in life

"You're gonna be a great success!"
That's what I fully believed
"Follow orders, you're gonna thrive"
That's the life that I had perceived

So close to my dream
Just to miss the mark when school was done
Life's not what it seems
Adult life is not about passing tests
Here's what school didn't teach you,
Here's what you missed

- - - - -

Life after school has so much to teach me
So many lessons I haven't yet had
The reality I kept myself sheltered from
The stuff I grew up believing was bad

School gives you questions that are either right or wrong
But life gives you gray situations
Factor in experience, difference in backgrounds,
Provoking such varied emotions

Everything I grew up believing was right
Has gotten me nowhere at all
What was perfect to authority in my formative years
Later on caused me to fall!

Do well at your job, get seen as dependable,
Too much expectation gets dumped on your plate
Try to express that you feel overwhelmed
Just to get yelled at by a boss who's now irate

Working a job for so little pay
Barely surviving, it mentally hurts
But now it's to the point I'm stuck in a trap
But if I step out of line, I just make things worse

Doing what I was told once made me happy
I used to be rewarded for my compliance
But now all it does is leave me feeling empty
Playing a pawn to the corporate giants

Everything I grew up believing was right
Has gotten me nowhere at all
What was perfect to authority in my formative years
Later on caused me to fall!

I spent my child years obeying adults
Being so great because I stayed in line
But in this adult world, it just made me spiral
Into confusion and mental decline

- - - - -

Now here I am in my thirties
Having learned what real life is
By failing at it so drastically
When I could succeed at it on paper
Now to figure out my true self
What my life is meant to be
And how I'm gonna get there