November Writing Challenge Day 14

The test results.

When you’re little, it’s all about what the U.S.S.R. stood for and the capitals of the 50 states. Then it was what value did x stand for and please list thirteen characteristics of a positive neutron.

{The first actual life changing test is taken at 16…some of us had to take it a couple of times. Stop signs are overrated.}

And it all boiled down to what you scored on the ACT that would determine the rest of your life. Or so we believed. Oh, how our naive minds believed. What we didn’t know is that these were the easiest tests to pass…the ones we actually had some control over. 

On to college, the days of relentless testing of the essay variety. What did this particular poem mean to you and what is the most significant symbolism in Dante’s manuscript to his mother? And all for what? So we can get a job where they don’t even glance at our GPA or ask for verification because they’re gonna give you the bottom of the barrel position and tell you you’ll have to make your way up the food chain…or if you’re a girl in a man’s world you may get lucky enough to be told the truth: “There’s no ladder to climb”, even though they’ll hire several men behind you who move into supervisor roles that don’t have your education level or experience…Oh, sorry, I got off topic. We’re talking about test results.

As we mature (well, physically, anyway) we may perhaps have to take a pregnancy test. 

As we grew up, we maybe discovered that the most important test results aren’t the ones where we give answers on paper, but it’s the tests where we submit to blood and tissue sampling…and we wait. Just like when we waited on the teachers to grade our papers and we had to wait on scores…you wait for an envelope in the mail or you wait for a phone call from the office or you call a number when an automated voice gives you your result. Is it the big C or is it just a spot? Is it an ulcer or is it acid reflux? Is it a heart attack or anxiety? Is it pregnancy or is it constipation? (I’m serious. That happened to TWO DIFFERENT girls I know!)

Lets not get hung up on test results. They only matter in the moment. Live all you can while you can. Because tomorrow is not promised, and life is but a vapor. Drive like you stole it.