When it comes you don’t have to be ready for it. You don’t have to know what exactly is required for it to actually happen or anything. But, when it comes knocking you have to answer the door because if you don’t then you’ll never know what it feels like. You don’t necessarily have to invite in it to have a seat on your couch. This isn’t opportunity that we’re talking about here. Opportunity? The only people that get opportunities are the wealthy or the blessed people. The girl that got raped when she was 12 years old and can’t tell anyone about it because nobody’s going to believe a Goth 16 year old over the chief police doesn’t have a chance of opportunity. Neither does the little boy that saw his mother get beat by his drunken father and that same night have the untamed fists turn to him. These people don’t have opportunity just coming to their door knocking asking to be let in. But you know, there’s always hope. That’s what everybody always says. Have hope and he’ll make a way. Keep holding on to faith and everything will turn right again. All of these society-made slogans are full of s***. You know it and so do I. When you hear all these presidential candidates making their speeches about how we’re going to pull the troops out of Iraq we both know that you sort of listen with plugged ears and watch with glazed eyes because we all know that this country is too selfish for that. We the people…. Where’s the we at in war? War, abuse, rape, these are all just examples of how much ‘opportunity’ we really have in this world. We do these things because of self doubt. Would we be at war right now if we were confident that we were the strongest country in the world and nothing or no one could defeat us? And, would we rape people if we were told as kids that we were all special in our own way and could eventually make a difference? I know what your wondering. What is this magical medicine that’s going to make the world just peachy and dandy and is legal? The truth is that this magical medicine is what you feel when you look into the eyes of your build-a-bear that you’ve told all your secrets to. The feeling that you get when you see your mother laying in the hospital bed telling you that everything’s going to be alright. The same feeling that mothers feel when they see their only son walking down the pathway they used to take coming home from kindergarten in his uniform and in one piece. Yup, it’s the one and only love. Love is powerful and a lot of times misunderstood. Love is not what you feel when you’re fiancé gets down on one knee and proposes. Love is the security that you have with in yourself. Love is being able to look at yourself in the mirror and say, I’m not going to let what happened to me 2 years ago effect the decisions I make today. Yea, I know it’s all so cliché right? Wrong. Think about it. If your parents or uncles or even you didn’t love you and encourage you, would you be here in Deerfield Academy, one of the best high schools in the country, listening to me speak? I don’t think so. A single mother of two that has had her 3rd eviction notice this month doesn’t wake up thinking “Oh, today opportunity will just come my way and I will promoted from kitchen lady to head of school”. But, the reason she wakes up and does this routine everyday is out of the love she has for her 2 boys. Love can change murders into doctors, convicts into teachers, and addicts into Fathers. With 3 words you can make all the difference. Either, I love you, or the most important one that everyone should say no matter what their circumstance or situation is, I LOVE ME.