I believe that absolutely everyone should believe, not in a deity or an ideal, but in themselves. Human mediocrity is a disease, and the lack of resistance is another. People allow their own dreams to slowly disappear as they grow into adulthood, perhaps because teachers recommend that students spend less time on "Some ridiculous pipe dream" and more time on algebraic equations. Or perhaps the intense floods of self doubt that we all feel at the adolescent time of our lives finally breaks down our emotional and aspirational barge, flooding our self-esteem and washing it away into the inner most depths of our mind, until we find ourselves another member of a monotonous matrix that the average life seems to be. Indeed, as teachers may well argue, perhaps their dream was to be a high-school teacher at a boon-dock school in the middle of Illinois, but I doubt it, and I am willing to wager that if you surveyed our school, most students have no such dream either.

In society, platitudes such as "Go for it" and "Be the best you can be", are thrown around so loosely that their deeper meaning is lost altogether. As a human being with dreams of being remembered, I take these words heavily, and allow their truth to justify my actions. It is unfortunate though, that few of
us do the same. Argue with me (as one of my two English teachers who graded this did), that if I believe in myself and wish to be ultimately successful, than why do I not pour my soul into my school work? Let my ask you, did you pour your soul into yours? I bet on it. And I'd much rather pour my soul into a much more fulfilling glass.
Situations often arise in which I notice that people wish to be free from the oppressions of the matrix that civilization is responsible for, but the hierarchy has already got its grasp on them, and it is quite a firm one. I used to be that person, who periodically attempted to flee from my shackles behind ultimate self-confidence, only to be thrust backwards into the veil of uncertainty. I sporadically fight internally to keep these new found revelations as the guidelines to my life, as I only recently discovered them, but others do not even make an attempt. And as teen minds are so often cruel and quick to judge, I give them leave to the ultimate punishment of mediocrity.

Am I an AH (its a curse word, I'm sure you'll figure it out)? No, I would love to help people and the world, though that desire is masked by my surviving the harsh social surrounding I am forced to live within. Am I rebel, it depends on your definition of a rebel. I don't smoke or participate in any alcohol related socializing, but not because it’s against the law. Instead, I do it because I believe in myself, therefore finding the slow destruction of my body rather ridiculous. I do make sure to break the rules that I find unfit and unjust to my personality, though, and I am always attempting to persuade others to do the same. If that is your definition of a rebel or a "bad-boy" then, by all means, call me what I am.

Now I believe that we should all have ultimate faith in ourselves, and that being true to yourself, is being true to life.