Dear Class of 2018,

High School is supposed to be the best years of your life. I hope that’s not true.

When I think back to all the pain I’ve endured on this path of life, I know it mustn’t be. High School is a time of learning and a time of regret.

 On this path, some of us learned to write in MLA format or the basic principle of algebra. Others may have learned what they look for in a mate or where they want their futures to take them.

I learned how to fake a smile, force a laugh, and create a blind eye to the blatant mockery you directed towards me. I learned it wasn’t all about me. I wasn’t the only one you made feel invisible and unneeded.  We all have problems. People from all over the world walk this path together. I strive to end their unending suffering.

I dedicated my free time to getting other people the help they deserve. I realized a long time ago that I never want anyone to feel the way I do when I get to the dark place where you end up getting lost. You’re lost for so long sometimes it feels like you’ll never be found and that the light that used to be in your life is just an illusion of your past paths.

It wasn’t all bad. I had a few strong arms that held me up when I felt like falling apart, and a few gentle hands that glued the pieces back together when I was falling too fast to catch.

I don’t regret much from high school. I wasn’t much of a party animal, mostly because I wasn’t cool enough for you to invite. Many of my stories seem pointless to you.  I do regret that some people don’t understand the meaning of no. I do regret letting those people get close enough for me to have to say no.

Our time together is almost over. I look at this fact with a bittersweet taste.

Bitter because of the genuine, full throttle push for freedom that sits in my soul. I shouldn’t be ready to leave this path so forcefully.

Sweet like the food I ate too much of in your eyes. I was never skinny enough for you.  I was never smart enough, or cool enough, or rich enough for you to think of me. I was not a person to you, just a thing in your class. I was nothing more than a base for your hatred.

Thank you, my fellow classmates, for making my high school experience so easy to say goodbye too. For that I owe you the world. Thank you for making me strong and for teaching me how to hide pain and exhibit false confidence. I appreciate all of the effort you put forward to make my life a living Hell.

I hope college is a new path in your life. I hope the stones are covered with thorns and cut your feet. I hope you realize that sometimes you must walk delicately alongside the flowers, because before you know it they will become weeds, and eventually there will be nothing left of your path except a distant memory and a sorrowful tear.

Goodbye, class of 2018. I will not miss you, but I will think of you often. I will strive to prove to you I was more than just a shadow of a soul. I am a real person, with real aspirations, and realistic ways of getting there. I will prove to you, and all other people, that I do have a purpose. I will change the world, maybe not the whole words, but someone’s. Maybe that world will be mine. I will make a new path.

High School is supposed to be the best years of your life. I hope that’s not true.

Best wishes,

Laura R