Uniform / Conform

 

Uniform / Conform — Spoken Word 

The uniform is meant to make life easy.

Meant to help us blend in.

Meant to stop us standing out.

But that only works

if blending in is your nature.

If conformity fits your skin.

If you’re bold — if you stand out —

the uniform doesn’t help.

It fights you.

School uniforms should be relics of days gone by.

Because standing out in a sea of the same

is hard work.

Not easy.

So you carve difference in tiny ways —

trainers, jewellery,

the way you knot your tie,

the way you wear your shirt,

the T shirt underneath.

Little hints.

Little rebellions.

Little breaths of self.

Because wasting time forcing yourself into outfit unity,

pulling the same thing from the same shelf of education,

steals from your focus.

Being uncomfortable steals from your learning.

Conformity costs concentration.

Because you don’t want the uniform.

You don’t want to conform.

It’s not in your nature.

In a job, in a shop —

sure, the uniform works.

You need to spot the staff.

Conformity has a purpose.

Adults already know how to blend,

camouflage,

step out,

shine bright.

But in school?

In growing?

In becoming?

The uniform makes it harder.

Only the conformist wants to be unified.

The rest of us —

we restyle,

we redo,

we stand out.