The Plan

I awoke up one day to discover that my mother had made breakfast for me:

"Thanks mom."
"I wanted to talk to you about something."
"Talk."
"Well. You're entering Middle School and I wanted to talk to you about the Plan."
"What's the Plan?"
"Well... you know how hard Dad and I are working. We work 12 hours a day for you. We work in very hard conditions running a beauty supply store so that we can support you."
"I'm aware."
"Well, the next step of the Plan is that you become a lawyer, doctor or scientist."
"I want to be a lawyer."
Mom smiled.
"In order to do that though, you have to excel at school. This means that you will have to pre-study all your subjects during the summer. This means that, perhaps... only once a week, you'll be allowed to watch a movie or go out."
"That seems a bit much. I'll have to think about it."
"Son... everyone is chasing you and only one person can be first place. Remember that."

Derek Kim was not sure what to think of the Plan. He wanted to please his parents but it was alot of work.

"Have you heard of the Plan?"
"Yes. My parents told me about the Plan when I turned 10."
"It sounds so rigorous."
"You bet it is. Black people were given the worst ghetto neighborhoods and now, over time, White people are slowly inching toward our neighborhoods, building stuff, raising prices and taking away our neigborhoods from us. It's a crime."
"You live in a nice, middle-class neighborhood."
"Doesn't make it any less a crime."
"No...no. I was talking about a different Plan."

I explained to John the Plan my mother spoke of.

"That's one crazy Plan," John said, "And once you become Number 1, what's going to happen?"

What was going to happen?