The Consequences in our Future: by Ryann McCready

As we walk, our feet lift as one, they fall as one,
As we sit, our legs swivel as one, they settle as one,
As we speak, my words are echoed throughout the thousands of other voices.

We are shells
Existing with only slivers of ourselves left behind,
Remembering who we were only from the ocean-like echoes

We are conformity,
The future,

We are robots wearing peach coloured disguises,
Remote-controlled,
Going,
Going,
Going until we die

We are conformity,
The future

We are the consequences of the actions that came before us,
And we have no identity.
They have changed us,
And now we are they.

We are conformity,
The future
We talk without speaking,
We Hear without listening,
We live under the oppression of being part of the whole.

They chose to judge our identities.
They have changed our identities.
And now, we have no identities.

We have conformed to society’s expectations,
Now we are society’s expectations
Now we are society, and society is nothing.

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“The consequences in our future” shows thematic insight towards several different aspects of the human condition. It addresses several inquiry questions such as the consequences of our actions, self-identity, and it touches on what can happen when we conform to societal expectations. Ryann McCready artfully uses the poem to (in a very exaggerated way) show us what could happen if we all conformed to what “society” wanted. Written in a very open, free versed way, the author managed to pass on the message of the importance of self-identity. The metaphor of being robots in peach coloured disguises emphasizes on the theme of consequences. She uses this metaphor to show that allowing ourselves to conform to these expectation has such consequences, and even that having societal expectations towards others has consequences. Ryann McCready’s piece itself is a hyperbole towards what can happen in our future if we follow the path of losing who we are to society. Her poem was very insightful and inspiring towards the idea of us all being who society wanted us to be, and how dangerous such conformity can become.