Standard

1

Standard is a different place; everyone knows that. People worldwide come every year to visit the village and try to learn how we work. Some say that we are revolutionary, but others argue that we stayed in the Medieval ages. Psychologists, teachers, sociologists, and many more professions write articles about us, make studies, and implant our political system in government organizations, but things never work.

I'm Eira, I'm 14 years old, and I live in Standard. I was taught in school that many years ago Lindqvist family supported by a huge part of the village, decided to create a new system of political organization. The structure seems easy; children go to school until the 31st of December of the year they turn 15. There is a public ceremony at the main square where we are given a role after months of studying and doing psychological tests. Participants line up and wait for Mr. Lindqvist to call them. Once they hear his name, they must go up on stage and wait for the mayor's friendly secretary to pronounce her role aloud. Nobody knows precisely how many different roles there are, but what is known is that it is forbidden to abandon the role until the age of 60, with the arrival of retirement. In addition, each position carries rigid rules that, if not followed, can lead to the expulsion of the person.

As I said, people spend months studying because, even though the role is given from the results of the psychological tests, every family tends to have the same position, so their children study to be chosen as the same role as their parents. Sometimes if this doesn't happen, the families kick their children out. That could be my case; all my family has the teacher role, but I hate kids, and I'm very interested in arts. This fact made me start thinking two years ago. Is this political system ideal and fair as it is considered? I will be turning 15 years old next year, so I have 13 months to plan some strategy to end with this system as it is November. My best friend Olaia says I'm crazy, that I should be realistic because she considers it is impossible to fight against a strong system that has been there for the last 50 years.

I have a very structured plan to avoid doing the role ceremony and finish with the Standard system; I need to convince people we need to find a fairer way to govern. I will try to do that with the help of the foreign people who will come on December 31st for the annual ceremony. I made a list with all the cons of Standard's system, and I'm trying to find more weaknesses to convince them we need help to change things. I know it is not easy, first of all, because I'm only 14, and people who have a career and solid ideas. On the other hand, they are dazzled by a system that seems ideal, so they won't try to listen to someone trying to discontent them.

With this diary, I want to show the world how outdated is Standard's system and why it needs to be changed. I will try to explain to you all the story of my village, when, how and why it started, their different stages and the actual situation. Then I will tell you my own story of when I decided to change things and why. I know I need to do this before because it is important to contextualize before doing anything else.  Also, I want to leave shreds of evidence that what I'm doing is for the good of the community and to prove that I'm not a criminal.