Today a friend of mine expressed her frustration after moving to a new school. She stressed about how she keeps trying but she always fails by 1%. She became desperate, screaming and crying claiming she was going to take her life. She told me "I'm stupid and i never get recognized for how hard I work. No one cares" After years of doing well at her first schools this new school took a mental toll on her. She went offline and I began to worry but eventually i got her to talk and i gave her some advice that i think everyone, especially those struggling to meet the demands of school can benefit from.
I said, "Life doesn't know you personally, it mistreats everyone whether you see it or not. So don't take life personally"
She went on to say "My life is ruined no matter what option is on the table" in response i said, " If you give up now that's an even bigger failure than all the times you've failed or think you have in your life. If you feel you don't have recognition now, if you hurt yourself to this extreme (suicide) you will get temporary recognition that comes when a life ends but you will fade away because you haven't lived long enough to strike a huge difference in the world yet. If you stay and make something of yourself for yourself there are people who will see, and spread it, and when your time finally does come you will have lasting recognition. Not just a 16 year old girl from the Caribbean who did well but killed herself"
She then said, " Does the Education system that determines my life care if you love me? Absolutely fucking not"
To this I told her the hard truth that all of you should know yourselves. I said, " The education system does not care about you because in their status quo you are a number. But to me you are a living, breathing creature. Do not live and die because you want to qualify under this status quo. Anyone can be a number 1 or 2 but only one person can be inserts her name. A human. A living breathing thing. That's your power. Remember that."
The moral of this story is, Life is a big "if" and because nothing is certain, anything is possible. Do your best to be a better human. Not a better number.
