Now, I may be a liberal-minded, truth-seeking, conversationalist who denounces any form of organized religion, but don’t categorize me into a stereotype.  I’m no hippy.  There was a two-year period of time when my hair was plenty long, but I have always been clean of drugs other than a drink or two here and there.  I’m too much of what you’d call a health freak who eats like a Sardinian or a Greek Islander and I run marathons on practically a regular basis.  I’m no hippy or any evolutionary product of beatniks, even if I have traveled with only a backpack to carry the bare essentials, sleeping on trains and in stations.  I’m also not preachy, because preachers are the ones causing all the trouble.  I’m no Bono, because I’m a heavy metal guy.  At the same time, I don’t take myself too seriously, because I still read comic books.  I find wisdom from the writing of Henry David Thoreau, but even more from the stand-up comedy of George Carlin.       

The truth is, I’m not easy to label.  I have my inspirations and my personal interests, but I am not completely absorbed by one category.  Instead, I absorb things around me I find interesting in order to become a more rounded person.  This is the example I want to set for my students.  You can be a good person and your own person at the same time.  You can think freely without substances that harm you.  You can be kind-hearted without enabling the damage organized religion causes.  We can have the positive without the negative.  If everyone were to be true to themselves, they would have more doubt about the status quo.  What is the point of our meaningless traditions and the unfairness of our – dare I say it – established order?  Enough questions reveal truth and that is what we all deserve to know.  If I can inspire one kid to be more true to the self and not the expectations of others, my life’s work is complete.  You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.  I hope someday you will join us and the world will live as one.