An Open Letter To Lin-Manuel Miranda.
It’s about 5:30 AM where I live (I live in Scotland) and I just watched your final curtain call with tears in my eyes. They were tears of sadness and tears because I’m so thankful and proud of you and the cast.
The reason I am writing this, so early in the morning, is because I want to thank you and your music because it has inspired me and possibly saved me. (also because my mum goes to work at 5 AM and she’s so damn loud when she gets up) I am a 16 year old teenager with an unknown disability which affects my motor skills (I can’t walk and I don’t have a lot of dexterity in my hands.) Despite this I am mentally able and to some people, considered smart. Along with that I have some mental health issues, I suffer from depression and anxiety. There are times when it got so bad, I attempted to take my own life, I didn’t see the point in life anymore and everyday was just getting darker and darker.
Then, one night my mum ordered pizza, so I went into the living room to have my dinner and my sister was listening to something, something called Hamilton. A Hip hop styled musical about the American founding father, Alexander Hamilton. Now, due to our very different tastes in music, I was initially reluctant to listen to it. (even though I do like musicals and hip hop, weird, right?) Eventually, my sister did get me to listen to the opening number and then I decided to listen to more of it and then I was hooked and became a lil’ obsessed, I admit. (Thank you, sis) I listened to the soundtrack like, everyday, well, simply because I loved it and I loved the music, the story, the characters (Eliza, my angel.) and the cast themselves. (They are literally some of the best humans to ever walk the earth.)
If I’m being honest, which I am. I loved it because I could connect with it and inspire me, I connect with Hamilton himself, a penniless orphan born out of wedlock (I am neither of these things) desperate to rise up and prove himself, make a difference and not throw away his shot. Despite his the difficulties in early life and later life, he never gave up. This is what got me thinking, if I throw away my shot, now, and just give up. What difference will I make? If I hold on and work harder, then I’ll go a lot further. Maybe not start a financial system or defend the constitution or fight a war and start a country. I could make a difference, I could help people from disaster, I could save someone’s live or multiple lives. I could improve situations in the world, if I just don’t throw away my shot and give up when it gets tough. I could make a difference because in the future people might need someone like me and if I’m not there to help them when the times calls….who will? This isn’t just a thank you message to a man who might have just saved my life and inspired to get up and stand up for what I believe in, this is a message to everyone whose days are dark and feeling like giving up. DON’T. Because if Hamilton has taught me anything, it’s that sometimes the people you need aren’t the people you would expect them to be.
I use to go around everyday ”thinking what’s the point of anything, no one will care about what I’ll do today, tomorrow and the next day. We all die at some point and the world doesn’t care unless you’re famous, so I might just die right now because it doesn’t make a difference to the world, no matter what I do.”
But now everyday I’m like “Look around, Look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now. Today is a new day and I could do something today that will make a difference in my life or someone else’s and change tomorrow, I am in control and I do matter and someday I might just change the world.” (I also hope to see the show when it comes to London, it would be a dream come true.)
So, to end this very long thank you note/post. I would like to thank The cast of Hamilton: An American Musical and everyone involved making it aand especially Mr Lin-Manuel Miranda, for changing my life for the better and I’m sure you did the same thing for many others. May whatever the cast decide to do in the future, fill you with happiness and success because you deserve it.
Thank you, Thank you very much. (I would thank you more but I can’t thank you enough.)
If you read this, Lin, which I hope you will because you’ve help me (and others) in so many, many different ways and I really want you to know that.
(please guys pass this around not just for Lin but for others going through dark times.)
annaxmalina
snowghoul
yousharknotpass
origamiaround
titsay
theartofmadeline
tangentwithtanner
