Two years ago it was my problem， because I sat on the edge of my bed， I was suicidal. And if you were to look at my life on the surface， you wouldn’t see a kid who was suicidal. You would see a kid who was the captain of his basketball team， the drama and theater student of the year， the English student of the year， someone who was consistently on the honor roll and consistently at every party. So you would say I wasn’t depressed， you would say I wasn’t suicidal， but you would be wrong. You would be wrong. So I sat there that night beside a bottle of pills with a pen and paper in my hand and I thought about taking my own life and I came this close to doing it. I came this close to doing it.
　　 And I didn’t， so that makes me one of the lucky ones， one of the people who gets to step out on the ledge and look down but not jump， one of the lucky ones who survives. Well， I survived， and that just leaves me with my story， and my story is this： In four simple words， I suffer from depression. And for a long time， I think， I was living two totally different lives， where one person was always afraid of the other. I was afraid that people would see me for who I really was， that I wasn’t the perfect， popular kid in high school everyone thought I was， that beneath my smile， there was struggle， and beneath my light， there was dark， and beneath my big personality just hid even bigger pain.
　　 And I， I don’t know what the solution is. I wish I did， but I don’t—but I think， I think it has to start here. It has to start with me， it has to start with you， it has to start with the people who are suffering， the ones who are hidden in the shadows. We need to speak up and shatter the silence. We need to be the ones who are brave for what we believe in， because if there’s one thing that I’ve come to realize， if there’s one thing that I see as the biggest problem， it’s not in building a world where we eliminate the ignorance of others. It’s in building a world where we teach the acceptance of ourselves， where we’re okay with who we are， because when we get honest， we see that we all struggle and we all suffer. Whether it’s with this， whether it’s with something else， we all know what it is to hurt. We all know what it is to have pain in our heart， and we all know how important it is to heal. But right now， depression is society’s deep cut that we’re content to put a Band-Aid over and pretend it’s not there.
　　 Well， it is there. It is there， and you know what？ It’s okay. Depression is okay. If you’re going through it， know that you’re okay. And know that you’re sick， you’re not weak， and it’s an issue， not an identity， because when you get past the fear and the ridicule and the judgment and the stigma of others， you can see depression for what it really is， and that’s just a part of life， and as much as I hate， as much as I hate some of the places， some of the parts of my life depression has dragged me down to， in a lot of ways I’m grateful for it. Because yeah， it’s put me in the valleys， but only to show me there’s peaks， and yeah it’s dragged me through the dark but only to remind me there is light.