Daring greatly.

Dear World,

After much consideration from the past 22 years of perpetual degradation, I realized that I have much to think about. Prior to now, I thought my life goal, as cliche and generic as it may sound, was to "help people by improving their health and quality of life". I do not know that I will ever achieve a higher-level degree in clinical health sciences, nonetheless gain admission to medical school. This is not what’s important to me right now. What I know is that I want to commit my life to helping other people in any way I know how; this may include, but is not limited to, clinical medicine, medical research, and family life. I realize that I may not have been born with an exceptional ability to learn, but through my life experiences, I have developed an extraordinary ability to love others. I feel it is my responsibility to help people in a way that is bigger than myself and there is no means more common to humankind than the body they live in.

I am trying today to be a be a better person than I was yesterday. I am not blaming you for the "damage" I am currently fixing, with all the obstacles that you've thrown my way between family and school and, well, life. I am completely at fault for my scholastic ineptitude and lack of focus, however, believe me when I say that I have come a long way since I left for college 5 years ago. The most difficult thing about myself that I am changing is this self-degrading attitude that I've developed as a result of the hardships you've left me with. But as I said, I'm not blaming you a bit. You've provided me with an innumerable amount of experiences, morals and intellect that I can offer to anyone, and I am forever in your debt. Because of you, I'm empathetic, optimistic, and cheerful in the face of disaster. Because of you, I'm kind, understanding, forgiving and patient with others that have wronged me.

Because of all this, I have only one thing in my entire life that I will ever ask you for: Please just take a chance on me. I have to get into one of these programs. I need this so badly. I don't ever ask anything of you because I no longer have many expectations from you, life, the world. But please, just throw me a bone here. Maybe I'm not the most deserving of people for an opportunity like this, but I hope to God that I'm fairly high on that list.

Well, that's all I've got for now, take care of that whole global warming thing for the time being. Thank you again for reading this far because you will never know how much this means to me.

Sincerely,
K. H.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

-- Theodore Roosevelt, Speech at Sorbonne
April 23, 1910