I received this brutally honest letter from a student the other day.
"Hello there,
I was sitting in a classroom a few days ago waiting to fall asleep as some stranger was preparing to talk to a group of high school students. I was thinking ahead to what your sob story would be and how soon it would hopefully be over with.
You started speaking and even though I wasn't in the auditorium with the students you were talking to, I felt compelled to listen...
Most people would wonder what could ever be wrong with my life.
I'm the girl who's family is popular around our small town, my family has money, my home life is what someone who grew up poor only dreamt of. I know I'm talented, I do well in school, and can probably get into any college I want to go to.
Yet I'm the girl who feels like nothing. Nobody would expect the happy-go-lucky, smart, outgoing girl would cry herself to sleep at nights, be a cutter, or do anything self-destructive.
As I was listening to you, the more and more I was inspired. I hadn't expected you to talk the way you did with so much passion. You were truly inspiring and uplifting. I haven't done a complete 180 or anything like that but I'm starting to see things in a new light; a little light is great when all you've know for a while is darkness.
Thank you for doing what you do, and I apologize for my assumptions about you. Even though you were a stranger, by the time you were finished I felt like I had a new friend."
Her last line reminded me of something Abraham Lincoln once said: "If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend."
"I am a student from -------- High School, and when you spoke to us, you made me tear up a little bit. As a kid i was made fun of really bad, then i started giving them a taste of their own medicine and they stopped messing with me. I used to be a straight A and B student, always did my work, but now i'm a straight C,D,F student. And since then my grades dropped. I started making fun of others to "fit in." And seeing how many people stood up in the room for issues like abuse, depression, and other problems...made me cry. Because, it made me realize what i could be doing to these people.
You brought me back to reality and i really want to thank you. I ran away a couple of weeks ago, because i felt no body cared. I was gone for two hours and they found me, my mom was crying. Now, i know people care. And because of your speech, im going to get my life back on track. thank you so much. You don't know how much you being there helped me get back to reality."