Metaphor 1, or 'A piece of paper and Get Thee Out.'
THE CLASS OF 2007 IS ON THE TRAIN. The route is crazy, but it has to be in order to get everyone to their various destinations. As the steward makes his way down the aisle, hands delve into pockets or purses to pull out tickets and hand them over. The Steward scans them before stamping them and handing them back. The tickets on this train are unique, no two resemble each other. The tickets are goals, plans, dreams, independence. They have watermarks of excitement, confidence, joy, relief. The Steward's stamp reads DIPLOMA. Turn it the correct way in the light, and it reads FREEDOM.
I don't remember getting on the train, but I awoke here. I have my luggage - Fear, Doubt, Expectations of Others - but I have no ticket. The Steward smiles and stamps my hand instead; it makes me feel sick. Even without a ticket, I'm not allowed to get off the train. No one else notices how incredibly fast it's moving. I look around me and see everyone smiling, laughing, and glowing from within - I look out the window and see landscape hurtling by screamingly fast, blurry. I squeeze my eyes tight to calm down, then open them and look at my hand. Holding it up, the stamp reads DIPLOMA like all the others'; I turn it in the light, and it says something quite diffent...
I don't remember getting on the train, but I awoke here. I have my luggage - Fear, Doubt, Expectations of Others - but I have no ticket. The Steward smiles and stamps my hand instead; it makes me feel sick. Even without a ticket, I'm not allowed to get off the train. No one else notices how incredibly fast it's moving. I look around me and see everyone smiling, laughing, and glowing from within - I look out the window and see landscape hurtling by screamingly fast, blurry. I squeeze my eyes tight to calm down, then open them and look at my hand. Holding it up, the stamp reads DIPLOMA like all the others'; I turn it in the light, and it says something quite diffent...