Once upon a time, Bartholomew III was sitting inside his classroom at school. Bartholomew tends to stare outside the window and ponder about his future whether it be good or bad things. His teacher, Jartholomew II called on Bartholomew asking what he was staring out to which Bartholomew did not hear and continued staring at the empty sky through the window. “Bartholomew the III!” Yelled the teacher. Bartholomew jolted up and stared at the teacher. “Sorry Ms. Jartholomew, I was spacing out.” Said Bartholomew. “Quit it and pay attention. Today you’re learning about the importance of your future and what society requires you to be.” Ms. Jartholomew exclaimed. “Ok, sorry.” Bartholomew said guiltily. The lesson however, got Bartholomew thinking further about his future and what he should be. A lawyer? A doctor? A dentist? All these jobs fell into what society wanted him to be. When Bartholomew looked around his classroom, everyone seemed so excited to grow up and attain these jobs, but Bartholomew thought to himself, where was the excitement for him?

When Bartholomew got home he immediately went to his room and laid in bed. There he stared at the ceiling, thinking, questioning, and worrying about what the future will be. The memory of the excitement of his classmates and how they have their futures laid out for themselves kept replaying over and over in his head. “All these jobs, and for what? Just to conform to society and be what everyone else is?” Bartholomew said to himself. Was Bartholomew truly just created to be normal and have the same dream as everyone else? To do what everyone else was doing? Bartholomews assignment from the class was to come to school the next day and have a job decided. That entire rest of the day Bartholomew would think and think but nothing came to mind. But Bartholomew knew one thing for sure, he would choose something different.

The next day Bartholomew walked into class with confidence bursting around him. Jartholomew would begin calling on people and one by one they walked to the front of the classroom explaining what they wanted to be and why. “I want to be a doctor to make lots of money,” said one student. “I want to be a computer technician because that’s what’s really popular right now!” Said another student.  Student by student were called up each with short and choppy answers with shallow meanings. The name of jobs were repeated over and over as no students stepped out and said they wanted a smaller job. Finally, it was Bartholomew’s turn. Bartholomew walked up to the front of the class where he stood, chest puffing out proudly and pride emulating from his soul. Bartholomew took a deep breath and began to speak. “I want to be a teacher. But not just any teacher, I want to inspire, to help others strive to dream and create. I don’t want to tell students what they can or can’t be. I want to tell them they could be whatever they strive to be and to be what they want to be, not just because society needs them to be but because they need themselves to be. As our generation grows I see that this is fading from our society and I want to be the ember of light that keeps the fire going. If everyone is telling them no I want to be the one person that says yes. And that is what I will do.” Bartholomew walked back to his seat, where he stared through the same window.