Speak

by Laurie Halse Anderson

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. Art is about making mistakes and learning from them.”

When people don’t express themselves, they die one piece at a time. You’d be shocked at how many adults are really dead inside—walking through their days with no idea who they are, just waiting for a heart attack or cancer or a Mack truck to come along and finish the job. It’s the saddest thing I know.”

And whenever there was any example of respect, it was usually a false respect—this idea that we should treat women preciously. Treat them as if they’re made of frill and lace, as if their value comes from their assumed fragility and not from their obvious humanity, which, again, has always been used to make us feel good, feel better, feel bigger as boys and men.

Learn to better love yourself. Learn to figure out how to fill the holes of insecurity and insignificance in more productive and honest ways. Check your friends, which means you may have to lose some. Fight for your own spaces of vulnerability. Again, check your friends. If they won’t let you cry, let them fly. (Remember, hearts don’t have bones.) Learn to apologize without any promises of forgiveness.

let’s work to do better. To do more. To be better. To be more. To love. Much much more.