Everyone Has A Story

“Everyone Has a Story”

Yesterday was life changing. I did this program at my school called “Breaking down the Walls”. It was so powerful, depressing, inspirational, and supportive that I even started crying. (You could say I am an emotional person, but never at school)

I learned so much about the people I go to school with, not knowing what challenges they face every day. I found out that so many people put on an act, acting like their lives are perfect, but they really aren’t. I even do it sometimes. I found out that friends I thought I knew were dealing with problems that I would have never guessed they were dealing with.

I found out that I’m not alone in the problems I deal with, there are others all around me that are going through the same exact thing I’m going through. Let’s just say, I wasn’t the only one who cried. We all really got a deeper respect for everyone, and we all understand each other so much better.

So the point of this blog entry? Well that you should all know, everyone has a story. Everyone has a challenge that they have to deal with.

It could be a death of a parent, sibling, family member or a close friend. It could be dealing with an eating disorder, cutting or thoughts of suicide. Or even with financial troubles and a risk of losing their home and become homeless. Teens have to deal with so much, and not to mention going to school and being judged by their classmates.

One of the most powerful moments throughout the whole day was when they had everyone step forward that had once in their life not be able to afford new clothes, and they had to wear the same thing over and over again. Then they had everyone raise their hands if they had ever judged someone by what they wore. It surprised me, not even realizing that some people don’t have a choice in what they wear and yet we judge them anyways. Of course I knew that, but sometimes we forget things like this.

We judge people without even thinking about it. But we really should be looking at the person for who they are. But judging people is what we do naturally; we don’t even have to intend to be mean. It’s just something that we need to break ourselves out of.

I know now I will never judge anyone again, at least not without knowing their story. I hope you all can do the same, not matter how hard of a challenge it is. I know we can do it.

I believe that everyone should go throught his program. As I said before, it was life changing. I also made a ton of friends that are going through some of the same challenges I am. Finding others like me makes me feel not so along. It makes it so much easier to talk, and everyone there, even if you I didnt' like them before, was so understanding and trustworthy.

One last thing,

Even if you don’t know someone’s story, there are so many ways you could help them. Just having someone trustworthy to listen to when you need someone to talk to, or having someone who has been though what you’re going through.

And if you can’t do that, how about just showing people respect? We all deserve respect. How about just smiling or saying hi when you walk past someone in the halls? Or opening the door for someone? A random act of kindness could greatly affect one’s day.

So remember that ‘Everyone has a Story’, you never know what could happen…

Peace out,

Rea