So many kids aren’t serious about school. So many don’t care. They seem to believe that they don’t have to do anything. Some of them just don’t care. Some have just given up. It is so sad to see this. To see my friends, the people I love, the people that I live and would die for. They just don’t try to fight for anything. They had dreams, but they don’t believe in them anymore. Some of us have been told from a very young age that we will never be anything, and some of us have been beaten down, mentally and physically. Others, they take their lives for granted. Their good parents who love them, their money, their popularity. These are the ones who are told that they can be anything they want to be, who are generally involved in all extracurricular activities, the ones who will get all the scholarships, the ones who will get into the good colleges. I am one of the beaten children, but I fight. I fight to get away. I have my dream, and I’ve been holding on so hard to it, trying to make it come true, because I want to be happy. I will spend my last breaths fighting for my beliefs.

The reason why not everyone tries, it’s simple: love. Whether it’s that no one loves us and we hate ourselves, or that everyone loves us but we hate ourselves, it doesn’t matter. If you can’t love yourself, then nothing matters. No matter how great you have it, if you don’t love yourself, then you have no will. You won’t try. Your whole body begins to shut down from the painful, hideous lies that are told in your head. You can hide behind a smile, or you can keep your eyes blank, but eventually someone finds out your insecurities, and they will destroy you. You can’t expect someone to love you when you can’t even love yourself. And even if they do love you, you can’t love them back because you don’t have enough love to share.

I guess none of that matters. Maybe I was just making excuses for why students don’t try. Maybe I was just telling what’s on my mind. Maybe I’ve just gone through a lot. Maybe a lot of good people have just fallen to their knees, praying to a god they don’t believe in to save them. Maybe we’re all just struggling. But, again, none of it matters, does it?

You told us to ask ourselves what our job is, what our role is, how we can improve, how we’ll show it, and how we will succeed. My job is to go to school, behave,  get an education, listen, and do as I’m told. That’s what they tell me, and I don’t a problem with that, other than I won’t be a pushover, I won’t let people boss me around. I’ve been a good child, I’ve followed the rules, I’ve been quiet, I've done my work, and I’ve kept my hands to myself. But all of the sudden, nothing I do is good enough. I can’t please everyone, so I won’t try. I will speak my mind, and I will not just survive, but I will strive, and thrive. My role is to sit down, listen, and be a good student, and then to go out and make the world a better place. To improve I should participate more. I will be successful by following what’s right, speaking up about what’s wrong, proving my points, showing who I am, and trying my best. I will show who I am and who I am meant to be, and by the end of my time I hope that people will celebrate my memory. Remember me.