Dear Parents,Do you know that your expectationsPut your daughter up on a pedestalJust as much as they add to an ever-growing number of nailsTo the coffin which you have built for herSince the day she was born?Do you realize that every award you hang in the hallway of your daughter’s achievementsCauses her sister to cultivate more malice in her soul?Malice that grows like weeds in her heart that suffocate rationality and instead encourage hatred.Hatred for you. For her sister. For herself.  Dear Parents,Do you know that the words you think push your family togetherActually carve a greater rift between all of you?That the reason your children live in fear of one anotherIs because your concern for their futureHas sponsored the chasm you call a gradebook that stands between them?There is a loss of academic passion in your householdBecause the arts are irrelevantAnd all that matters in this momentAre SAT scores. ACT scores. Acceptance letters.Do you realize that your avocation for the sciences adds weight to one daughter,Pressuring her to be absolutely perfect in the field she once lovedBut now fears will be her undoingAnd that your other daughter spits the word with scornBecause you have long crushed her dreams in the artsAnd the only thing she thinks she ever will beIs a shadow of her older sister. Dear Parents,Do you know that the book which you live by and exaltIs tearing your daughter apart at the seams?That every time you utter the word “confused”You unknowingly throw her further into the fireDamning her faith.Do you know that the way you have raised her to trust youDrives her deep with guiltWhen she feel the need to hide.The secret she keepsCaught in her throatBurns with shame whenever you remind herThat anything other than Adam and Eve isUnnatural. Uncivilized. Unacceptable.Because she knows that even though you see it As a problem for the rest of the worldShe knows that those words are secretly aimed at herAnd she resolves once again to never let you know Dear Parents,Do you know that my greatest fear,Despite everything,Is disappointing you?