PLEASE READ AND REFLECT!!! For all of you: friends, my classmates, the random individuals who I see in the halls, parents, teachers, internet acquaintances, but most importantly: YOU. Yes, you the one whose reading this now. The world is your oyster. •Jack It was cold. The crisp and inviting sound of fallen leaves crunched under foot while the couple dressed in the latest sweaters and hats happily made their way down the cracked pavement of my quiet little neighborhood in the peaceful town of Wrentham. Peering out my window, I happened to spot this couple making their way to wherever they were going without a care in the world. I stopped everything I was doing, and only realized I had done so after seconds (which felt like minutes) passed and my items lay sprawled across my desk of my tiny bedroom in a green colonial house. Adorned on my wall were posters of Dave Matthews and Muse while my laptop was alight with various different tabs opened up on various different websites. Next to the machine was A Storm of Swords which I had previously gotten off of Amazon a few months prior in the summer. It was the smaller version of the book so I could easily transport it from place to place without having to lug around the extra five pounds. I can't quite remember where I was in the story that day, but I digress. Outside was a fall wonderland, colors of red and yellow splashed the ground like a marvelous painting. Halloween was right around the bend, and freshmen year had gone promisingly well in the first month at a new high school. Looking back, it was a much simpler time with almost no worry. If my memories allows me, I can recall my old house with almost picture perfect detail that time. My little room was a safe haven from the insecurities I had built up around me. Home was the only place I felt I could be myself. As the couple parted from my eye sight, their activity inspired me to get off my office chair and enjoy the weather while it lasted, knowing that Old Man Winter would be blowing his chilly breath down my way soon enough. I put on a sweater and other fall necessities, then carefully opened the door, my scarf covering my face from the wind chill. The cold air nipped at my nose which was protruding out from the warmth blanket-like hug the scarf had on the rest of my face, but I let it stay out there instead of trying to fix it in fear that I would only make the situation worse. As I began to walk down Charles Street, I looked up at the sky and saw that it was almost cloudless for a fall day. Only a few dotted my vision, all looking like large tuffs of white cotton candy in the air. With time, I made my way to the end of the hilly street and into Harvard Lane in the neighborhood of Archer, just beyond my own Chickering Estates. The beauty of the world was astounding. In due time I grew tired of walking and returned to my humble abode, retiring to my basement where I would normally stay for most of the day. It was a lonely life I lived, almost no true human contact outside of the family, yet I still continued to sit and ignore the fact that I was wasting precious time in my life down there when I should have been doing something out here. Life is filled with "should have"s and "could have"s, something we cannot avoid or change. Maybe I should have taken an examination of my self in those times instead of mindlessly staring at a television, or maybe I should— listen to me: didn't I just say life was filled with "should have"s? Anyways, the point being was that life is so precious, so beautiful, and so unique to each of us that we should embrace it with everything we can. Of course, we can occupy ourselves with materialistic things, money, popularity, the clothes we wear, the things we like, or even the things we don't like. None of it is as important as you are to yourself. At the end of the long road, the only person who will have your backs are either you or your parents, but as sad as it is to hear, our parents will to grow old and leave us. Depressing? Totally. The end of the world? Not so much: only if you let it. Life is filled with glorious untold riches that lie just around the corner. Sure, our lanterns may blow out sometimes or get wet, but it's our job to relight it and carry n through the darkness until we see the end. That's what is so resilient about the human race. We are #1 for a specific reason. So what if you're awkward, quirky, weird, or just an average outcast. Society is not done with you or your interests. When you lie down in your bed some nights and just wonder what is going to happen to you, think positively. Life is life. That's the easy way to put it in any language. Vida es vida, الحياة هي الحياة, life is life. There is no why or what, only can and shall. There is what has been, is happening, or what shall be. No alternate universe, no time travel, and no way to stop it. Life is life, and life can be a good life, or life can be a bad life. Think about it, most of us have been alive for about 6,200 days. That is the amount of days the 17 year old human has set foot on this earth since leaving their mother's womb. That's about 149,000 hours of us experiencing something everything else in the universe gets to experience. We share life, we give life, we take life, and we trade life. We as humans have conquered the natural law of the universe and have labeled it and twisted it in so many uncountable ways. If humans are capable of doing such a thing, consider yourself lucky to be one, because all that potential is inside of you, waiting to contribute to the busy beehive we call our society, with each of it's members working hard to keep it going. You matter. You have the ability to do anything your heart desires. Take that leap of faith, join that band, make that movie, write that book, ask that special someone out, eat healthy, stay active, always moving, never stopping, always running, never walking, continuing talking, stop idolizing, take control and never lose it, because it's up to you to chose it. Love yourself and always do so, because loving yourself is the greatest love anyone can give and receive at the same time. My name is Jack F.J. Goddard, and it's so very nice to meet you.
