LISTEN TO ARTICLESynthesized Narration • 0:00 / 0:00

“It's not enough, can't you do better?” Are these really words of discipline, or belittling? Lines laced with silent mockery — words that ring with sting, echoing the discreet hypocrisy, deafening away our sanity. If not stacks, then piles of standards — expectations that make us seemingly walk on thin ice, one wrong move and you'll break, shattering into pieces of disappointment. Crumbling with reality, the actuality of being unable to grasp their standards — our parents’ standards. For Us Or For Them? “We are doing this for your own good”. A line we constantly hear — a mantra that reminds us nonstop for our “own good.” Our parents are our providers, guardians, and role models — they shape us for the better, correcting us, teaching us to learn from our mistakes. That's what some of us used to believe in, forced to believe in. As we gain years older, we gain more awareness — realizations of the standards that are like lined up dominoes, stacked and seemingly in straight order, almost too perfect, too intentional. The older we get, the more expectations we face, much less of what we already are. Are these scoldings really meant for us to be better? Or be the better versions of themselves? Perhaps, they shape us into something they couldn't be — the people they wanted to be but couldn't be. Crumbling Passion In Exchange For Their Own Satisfaction “You're just wasting your potential. Why can't you be like other kids next door?” Comparing and seizing — a line that always cuts straight into the gut, tearing every little bit of how much sanity we have left. Leaving us in a spiral of emotions, doubts, and bewilderment, questioning ourselves, “Am I enough?” Or “was it never enough?” Some guardians may think that comparing us to other children is considered “discipline,” but the truth is, it's the complete stark contrast of what they believe. In reality, every belittling that they throw always hits hard — breaking down our walls for them to “rebuild,” which is ironic because some of us never got fixed, some were left broken, vulnerable, and used. They strip away our spark to replace it with their own flaring desires — their own burning selfishness that shuts off our own passions. Differing our own dreams, turning it into our nightmares, carving them into their own fantasy. Silent Voices, Unseen Sacrifices “Why are you like this? We didn't raise you to be so rebellious!” Is it really being rebellious? Or just a natural reaction after holding the beckoning burden and silent pain on our shoulders? “Why don't you open up to us?” How can we? Whenever we do, they would always seek and see whatever wrong we do, but never the hurt we thrive through. In every pain, it's not their embrace we seek anymore — but the silence, the dark and cold corner where we silently break, quietly accepting that in their eyes “what you achieved is nothing like what they used to achieve.” We are the broken generations, not financially, not socially, not physically — but mentally, emotionally, and secretly. Justice For The Youth, Voicing The Truth “Why can't you be like them? What is it that you want?” Some might say expensive things, but some could only yearn silently for the warmth and any amount of understanding from their parents — the acceptance, support, and trust that would never rust.