8th Grade Boy Writes Unbelievably Wise Poem

When we think back to the poems we wrote in 8th grade, there is, admittedly, a fair amount of cringing involved. Maybe those early teen verses were a little too silly or a little too emo. Heck, some of them were just plain bad.

A poem written by Jordan Nichols, an 8th grader from Wilmington, N.C., is different, though. The junior high student had his poem thrust into the spotlight yesterday, when his proud older brother Derek posted an image of the piece on Twitter.

It's meant to be read normally at first—that is, top to bottom. But, at the end, he asks the reader to read it in reverse. And that's when the poem's meaning totally changes.
Some critics, according to Elite Daily, say that Nichols cribbed from—or was perhaps inspired by—the poem Lost Generation, which features the same structure. Others say the teen has written something pretty profound.

What do you think?

Here is the text of the poem, first top to bottom, then bottom to top:





Our Generation

Our generation will be known for nothing.
Never will anybody say,
We were the peak of mankind.
That is wrong, the truth is
Our generation was a failure.
Thinking that
We actually succeeded
Is a waste. And we know
Living only for money and power
Is the way to go.
Being loving, respectful, and kind
Is a dumb thing to do.
Forgetting about that time,
Will not be easy, but we will try.
Changing our world for the better
Is something we never did.
Giving up
Was how we handled our problems.
Working hard
Was a joke.
We knew that
People thought we couldn’t come back
That might be true,
Unless we turn things around
(Read from bottom to top now)
----------------------------------------------------------------
This is how it reads from the bottom to the top:
Our Generation

Unless we turn things around
That might be true,
People thought we couldn’t come back
We knew that
Was a joke.
Working hard
Was how we handled our problems.
Giving up
Is something we never did.
Changing our world for the better
Will not be easy, but we will try.
Forgetting about that time,
Is a dumb thing to do.
Being loving, respectful, and kind
Is the way to go.
Living only for money and power
Is a waste. And we know
We actually succeeded
Thinking that
Our generation was a failure.
That is wrong, the truth is
We were the peak of mankind.
Never will anybody say,
Our generation will be known for nothing.