There exist three walks of life: the walk of great evil for those who care not for the innocent they slaughter in their bloody path to power; the walk of great good of those who use their powers towards the crusade of kindness and peace; and the walk of ignorance glutted by those who pretend the evils before them do not exist and do not need to be battled. I have chosen my path. I have chosen to raise my voice and fight for the people without the courage or ability to find voices of their own. I have chosen to put aside my cowardice to stand tall and give all I have towards a brighter future. I have chosen to be a fighter, leader, a hero. So now it is your turn to choose.
I pray that you choose neither the former nor the latter most to live by, instead finding yourself thrust into the light of the middle group. I hope that you shall open your eyes, the flame of justice burning bright within, and gaze into all that the world holds, taking in the good and the bad, the pure and the evil, the angels and the demons, and come to the decision that you must take action. That you must hold yourself responsible. That you must learn to be a leader.
We learn in our lives that the good people go to Heaven and the bad people go to Hell. We also learn that good always triumphs evil. But what happens to the cowards who fade into the safety of their own bubble of ignorance. We never hear about them, do we?
They are no better than the monsters who slaughter the innocent. They sit down and allow for such atrocities to occur by shielding their eyes and looking the other way. But I won't do that. I make a promise to all of you that I shall not vanish behind a cloud of self-interested preservation. I promise to you that I will never back away from a fight because it is difficult or because I am afraid that I might lose. I am bigger than that, better than that, stronger than that. And I believe-no, I know that you are too.
So do not give up. Do not turn away. Do not be discouraged by the cruelties you see. If we all stand together, all differences forgotten in the breadth of our cause, we can make a difference; we can change the world.
Peace. It is what I am fighting for. It is what I will dedicate my life to. So I ask you to join me. I ask you to be brave. I ask you to, in the wake of tragedy, band together to fight for a brighter future in which we need not fear for our brothers and sisters, where we need not fear for our sons and daughters, where we need not fear that to be different is to be despised, where we need not fear to disagree is to die. I ask you not to forget, once the shock and horror slowly passes us by. I ask you to keep fighting because you know that it is right. I ask you to keep fighting because you know that you can change the world. I ask you to keep fighting.
We are all humans. We all are born. We all die. We all have hearts. We all have souls. We are all humans. Do not forget. Please, do not forget.
And so I leave you with a quote:
Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle.
The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.
I write this in the wake of the Boston Marathon Bombings. As I have been saddened to see, many people plod on with their lives, scarcely acknowledging the great tragedy that has occurred. Though the death tole may not be high, there was still a loss of life. A loss of innocent life. I cannot live with myself knowing that I fail to act out to prevent such senseless violence.
So this is a promise to myself and to all of you that I shall fight for world peace. I am promising to devote my life towards ending hatred and spite and promoting love, acceptance, and peace.
I promised myself after Sandy Hook that I would not let the flame die. And yet I have done nothing to help prevent gun violence as I swore to myself I would do. So I now trust you to hold me accountable and not let me forget. I am also asking you to join me in the fight for peace.
To the victims of the World Trade Center, the bombing in London, Boston, and all of the other innocents who have been caught in the crossfire of spite and hatred, I promise I will not forget you. I promise I shall fight for you. I promise,
-Lia