You will never be a nobody.

Sitting at breakfast with my family, I almost broke out in tears as I read the newspaper. The article in question was about a teacher and his vow to ensure all his students feel like they are important. The article goes on to tell a story about a teacher's experience in the sudden death of a student. I saw a lot of myself in his depiction of the student. A loner. Quiet. Shy. Reserved. Moderately intelligent. Most that know me today know I am not quite this person anymore. I eventually came out of my shell. The problem is, is that not everyone finds a different side of themselves like I did. It gets to a breaking point I think.  You either continue to live in this controlled environment and eventually lose the will to continue on. Or, you change and revamp your image. I admit what I did cause a lot of negative attention. That didn't matter to me because at least then I was noticed. I was somebody. Even if that somebody wasn't liked at least people knew my name. After the student in the story collapsed and died one day. No one really knew his name or much about him. His teachers barely heard more than two words escape his mouth in the 3 years he had been attending high school. Out of politeness the student council formed a group to attend his funeral services. I commend this teacher for going beyond what's expected of him. I feel sometimes like after all these years i've been chipping away little by little. Like the student in the article you can only handle so much of being invisible. Then one day you really disappear. There is something deeper here though. Unlike with other diseases, mental disease sufferers look like any ordinary person. You can tell by looking at someone if they're aching inside. With some perhaps, but not with all. Like the student in the story, no one knew he was so disturbed. This makes it more difficult for the hurting to receive help.

I guess my whole point is that nobody should feel like they're a nobody. More importantly we as humans should not make anyone else feel less significant. The problem is, is that our society does rank people and categorizes others as more important, thus deserving higher salaries, bigger offices, bigger houses. I know I'm sounding very communist right now. But it is a part of what our country is suppose to be about. The rights to equality. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Well maybe that was just a dream.