A few months into the school year, I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in a while
We got to talking and she asked, “How’s senior year?”
I told her, “Well, I’m having fun but it’s stressful.”
“Why?” she asked.
I said, “Well, all this college stuff is stressful, and having a full schedule isn’t helping.”
She said, “Why a full schedule? It’s your senior year, why try so hard?”

I don’t exactly remember what I answered, probably some generic response, but I didn’t think much of it.

Later though, I thought about that question.
It came back like waves lapping against my mind over and over again.
“Why try so hard? Why try so hard? Why try so hard?”
Well, why not?

Why not try hard?
Why not pack my schedule?
Why not focus on getting to college?

I mean if I’m going to pay all this cash for class, shouldn’t I be prepared to pass?
Then again, maybe it’s just me.
Maybe it’s absurd to be ready.
I mean, who wants to be ready for what’s to be?
Well, I suppose the answer to that question would be
Me

I, for one, want to be prepared.
And it seems like our generation doesn’t want that.
We squander what we are given and procrastinate like it’s religion
We love mottos like “Carpe Diem”
Yet the only thing we seize is the seat of our pants and we fly by it continuously
We strive for excellence, yet settle for mediocrity
If life was a mountain, we are content at sitting at the halfway lodge, never quite seeing the beauty from it's peak.

Maybe we aren’t to blame, maybe it’s not our shame.
Maybe we are victims of circumstance just looking for recompense.
We can’t control what happens to us, but one thing is for sure.
We control how we react.

See, we like to play the victim.
Pity parties are the popular theme
“Oh poor me, my life *****.”
Maybe that’s true, maybe your life does ****.
You might think you never have good luck.
But though your life might be covered in muck,
All you have to do is push through to get unstuck.

We need to take back our lives, we need to strive for something more.
Deprive the naysayers of satisfaction; try.
Try hard.

It might not be glamorous, it may not be hip,
But blood, sweat and tears are definitely worth the trip.
If we can break the monotony of complacency
If we can do away with apathy and replace it with productivity.
We can do whatever we could possibly dream of.

So to everyone asking “What’s the use? Why try?”
I promise you it is worth it.
When you do something for yourself, you fight back against the doubtful.
Be a tryhard, be a freak, be obsessed with your passions.
The outside world will call you these names, but they are jealous.
They will tear you down because they see you fighting back.
They see you doing something that they only dream of.
They want to have the same fervent desire to be better.

The saying “you only live once” becomes obsolete when you try.
Yolo has been turned from it’s true meaning into “do stupid things”
Get there and experience the world, show them what yolo stands for really

Pack your schedule
Feel free to always be busy
Because you only have one life, so live the one you got
That way, when they say, "why?"
You can say
"Why not?"

“If you play baseball, you’re gay.” he said with a stupid grin on his face.
And that time, I had had enough.
I told him, “Shut up, I am tired of hearing you say that.”
For this wasn’t his first time using gay as an insult.
I should have said more.

I should have told him that to him, it’s just a word,
But to those of the homosexual community, it is demeaning.
The fact that our society has become alright with allowing a term that defines something life changing like one’s ****** orientation as a term of slander means one thing.

Our dictionary is out of date.

Our dictionary is out of date because words like gay, ***, queer, and ****** are common practice
We let these words flow from our mouths like a river that has broken through a dam.
They are ceaseless, coming forth without an end in sight.
But they are just words, right?
Stick and stones, right?

Wrong.

It is true that sticks and stones break bones, but not so much that names will never hurt anyone.
Because they do.

They may not hurt you or me, but you and I have thick skin, our skin is armor clad.
But not all were fortunate enough to get a such an impenetrable epidermal layer.
Some only received paper to cover the flesh and bones they call a body.

So you may say “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me,”
but to those with paper skin, they have never had sticks or stones cut so deep as words have.
A stick can not scar your soul, a stone can not ******* your self image.
But words can affect someone for life.

I know this is true because I know teenagers who it has happened to.
I know a girl who is one of the most beautiful young women I have seen
But she believes otherwise because inspite of my telling her so
She has been a victim hiding in the bombshelter of insults for far too long
Without makeup she does not feel pretty, when she is sick she wants no one to see her face.
She has become a statistic in a society that thinks sticks and stones is a one-size-fits-all policy.




Or what about all of the men, women, and children who take their own lives every day?
Or even the one’s who take their paper skin and shred it with a razor blade?
Try telling them that names will never hurt them, try telling them that they don’t need to do what they do
Try telling them that they are beautiful.
Because I can almost guarantee you that they will tell you
“You’re wrong”