Quiet Down.

quiet down. her email floods with leadership classes, her math test comes back with the coveted red A at the top, her mind swirls with dreams of the oval office while her teacher recites shakespeare, settle down. they say to take internships, they tell how far good grades will get you, they ask if she has been paying attention, hush up. the letters of admittance are recieved, the congratulations are given, the questions whether if she deserves it are pondered, be silent. the positions sit just above her finger's reach, US attorney general, supreme court justice, president of the USA, she jumps higher, trying to grasp the possibilities again and again, move out of the way. she takes the praise and acknowledgements, she speaks at schools and shares her experience, she is told that for a woman it is impressive where she is, she begins to believe that her station is impressive, but did she try hard enough? is she where she wants to be or is she where the old men want her to be? has all of the praise convinced her she is where she should be, has being told to settle down whenever she has an opinion began to take effect, is she the example that the old men are not sexist? quiet down, settle down, hush up, move, she is told her whole life when she is herself. she quiets down to fit the image of the perfect woman. she dumbs her ideas down to respect the men, she tells little girls, "you can be who you want to be!" at schools, but is she where she wants to be? or is she where the old men want her to be?