Desperation for Acceptability

In the library you can just taste it:

The need for achievement,
The craving for self-worth,
The zest for improvement,
The passion for respectability,
The longing for completion
The thirst for security,
The zealous quest for superiority,
The anxious, frantic, determined
     desperation for acceptability.

It's easy and simple to define one's life by a resume--
More than that, it's rewarding and contentment-inducing.
But how hard is it to measure happiness in numbers,
In capital letters and recommendations and degrees?
Our society harnesses our desire to survive and succeed,
As mammals it's the most potent urge we know.
Driven we are, herded and assigned:
It's incredible, really, how every little kid
Dreams to be one of only a handful of things when they grow up.
Astronaut?--Cowboy?--Doctor?--Lawyer?--President?--
Which are you?
Most people we know by their status, their occupation and labels,
As though they are a cardboard cutout, smiling and confident
And content.

          Hi, I'm Joe, the nametag says.
          I grew up here, I attended this university.
          I work here, I do this. This is my life. Who are you?

It seems I am just making excuses, though,
I too am consumed with the looming fear of failure,
I walk this eternal trail,
It is helplessness which scares me, truly,
Knowing that I've closed so many doors,
That I haven't tried my best, that I've wasted my potential.
This place can be truly depressing
With it's dread and desperation
So tangible, suffocating. Oppressive.
God it's hard to study here.
And there's just so much useless shit in my head.