I know I can be very standoffish.

Everybody makes mistakes.

My mom obviously had a problem.

If people have a basic understanding of right from wrong, possess a strong desire to better themselves and persist in their cause, they can break the chain of any negative environment.

My message has always been about resilience.

I work 338 days a year, 16 hours a day.

The body can endure practically anything – pain, fatigue, you name it – but its the mind that matters.

That day at school I prayed for the world to end.

I knelt down, trying to put the many pieces of the letter back together again. It was impossible. I dumped the pieces of the letter in the trash, wishing my life would end. I truly believed, at that moment, that death would be better than my prospects for any kind of happiness. I was nothing but an “It.

Children who had difficulty in learning basic skills were to be given special instruction to remedy those weak or unlearned skills.