To The Youth

I am the first to admit that I am not perfect and I have made many mistakes in my lifetime, none were worse then the complete lack of respect I had towards my education.  I do not beat around when the bush when it comes to this subject, I fucked up and there is no nice way to try and polish it up to make it out to be something it is not.  I wasted the one opportunity I had to get it right, I did not listen to my parents or teachers and I figured I knew all there was and that everything would be alright.  Fast forward to today and I am cursing myself for the stupidity of my actions and attitude when it came to my education.  The two hours I just spent emailing every university in Ontario was the worst two hours that I have gone through in a very long time, sitting here staring at the screen franticly siphoning through the infinite amount of information praying that I still have some hope.  These tears are no joke, this pain I can barely come to grips with.  How could I be so stupid?  How could I waste four and half years?

There is nothing left but to look forward to the future and figure out what obstacles I now have to overcome to achieve my goal of getting into university at any cost.  The problem is I should have realized this 10 years ago although inconsequential now I will forever regret not going to class, not doing my homework, not paying attention, not giving it all I had.  What makes this so painful is how much potential I had, I went from being a straight A student and near the top of my class and went straight to the bottom when it mattered most and I can only imagine how frustrating it must have been for everyone who truly cared about me to witness.  

The only benefit I have gained is one hell of an education from the streets which has allowed me to crawl out of the bubble I was trapped in, the cave that most people are still trapped in.  I am a self educated student of life who is now aware that knowledge is true power, not the money I craved, not drugs I used to sell, not the rude boys I used to hang with,  not the partying, not the girls or the fame.   

If there is anything that I can pass on to the younger generation it is this.  You and only you can control your future and an education is the only way that you are going to be able to succeed in this life.  Do not make the same mistakes that so many other people make in wasting away the opportunity, do not fall asleep at the wheel like I did.  Rise to the challenge, ignore the distraction and trapping of society and focus on the future, you have many more years ahead of you and only you have the power to control how that future turns out.  Do you want to spend your life working dead end, go nowhere jobs or would you rather empower yourself with the knowledge that will lead you to a better life?