Existential Crisis (I Don't Know)

Want to know how to create an existential crisis?

Allow me to demonstrate:

Take a seemingly simple question, for instance

“What do you want to be when you grow up”

And pull it apart gently, layer by layer, perhaps

Fold the ‘what’ into a ‘who’

Make it nice and personal

Dress it in doubt, then let it simmer

Let its fragrance penetrate your nostrils

Let it flow into every corner

Let it seep beneath the cracks of doors long ago locked

Simmer until the initial deceptively-innocuous notes have faded

And a heavy aroma has settled over the kitchen.

Ours should evoke notes of crushed idealism and moldy sage

Your question won’t look any different by this point

Don’t be fooled.

It sits there, mocking you with its sameness

As you try not to gag on the fumes

And when you finally muster the courage

Take a bite.

Choke it down.

It won’t get any easier.

Because there’s no question more difficult to swallow

Than one that’s been infused with the bitter essence of self-doubt

Want to know how to create an existential crisis?

Don’t dismiss a question with a simple

“I DON’T KNOW.”