Why I Sometimes Try to Be forgetful...
- R.E.A.C.H. Team
- Sep 16, 2025
- 3 min read
It wasn't until my senior year of high school that I realized the life I was living and the choices I was making were taking me nowhere. By that time I'd made a lot of bad choices that could have got me in way worse trouble than they did or even cost me my life. But after having a life changing experience at a Youth to Youth summer conference, I was finally ready to make major changes.
I was ready to get back to school that year with a fresh attitude and outlook on life. But even though I wanted something new, different, and better, there were still people in my life who wouldn’t let me get past my past. Whenever I tried to talk about my new future, there always seemed to be someone ready to remind me of my old past. Sometimes it was people at school, sometimes people in my neighborhood, and sometimes it was even people in my own family. It got very frustrating, but I was determined to prove me and everyone who believed in me right, and by default, prove all my doubters and haters wrong.
I learned a real important lesson that year that had nothing to do with academics and everything to do with human relations. If you want to get through school more easily, help make your teachers’ job easier.
Now understand, I hadn't suddenly become a straight A student. I was still a C/D student, maybe pulling a B here and there. But I noticed something. When I wasn’t disruptive, when I paid a little more attention and showed even a little effort, teachers started investing in me differently.
For example, I had failed Spanish two years in a row (don’t let the first and last name fool you. That was pretty much where my connection to Latino culture began and ended.) I needed 3 language credits to graduate. But now I was a senior and only had 1 language credit. Normally that would’ve meant I’d have to make it up in summer school or at night school. But I went to my school counselor and explained my situation and she said if I could get the two Spanish teachers to agree, I could take Spanish II and III at the same time. I went to my Spanish teachers and pleaded my case. And even though I had put them through hell the two years prior, they both saw that I was trying to do better, and they both agreed!
So because they trusted me and believed I was invested in my success, they were willing to invest in me. Now if only that meant I learned twice the Spanish! Sadly that was not the case. But I did pass both classes and at that time, that was good enough for me.
See…when I was a problem, all my teachers cared about was getting me out of their class as quickly as possible. But when I made their jobs easier, even just a little, they seemed more intentional about making my school experience easier. That stuck with me, and it’s a lesson I still pass on to young people today.
When you walk into a classroom, what do you want to be remembered for? When a teacher thinks about you, do you want to be remembered as the student who stressed them out and made their job harder? Or do you want to be remembered as the student who was a breath of fresh air, who made their job a little easier? Because if that’s how they remember you, they’ll be more invested in your success. And if you can master that in the classroom, you can master that in life.
Did I have the best teachers and go to the best school? Probably not. But looking back, I honestly believe that most of my teachers in high school were doing the best they could with what they had. And I guess that’s what they started to see in me. I was trying to do the best I could with what I had. And if there was one thing I knew I had, it was motivation to live above my circumstances and see beyond my previous misperceptions of who I could be and what I could accomplish.
I've attached a resource I encourage you to share with students who you work with that are striving to do new, different, and better. Help them create a realistic plan for taking control of what they are known for, from this moment on.
And here's a real short video I made about not letting your past disqualify you from your future.
As always, if you like this, share it with people you care about.
