What do we have when all is lost? When we hit rock bottom and feel the only other place to go is six feet under? These questions have haunted my mind for the last few months, as it turns out life doesn’t wait for you to be comfortable when life happens to you. So, I live with the scars of the past inside and out, living days of impending doom or feelings of worthlessness that cloud my mind from any objective I may be trying to accomplish.

There are days where I feel the only way out is through my own devices. But then I’m reminded of something that was said to me not too long ago that continuously runs through my mind, and it reminds me of Bobby.

Through the uncomfortability comes progress.

I don’t hide the fact that I suffer from major depressive disorder. There are days when I can barely lift my head up from my pillow. I’ve always felt like I never fit in anywhere, and somehow everyone else around me received some kind of 13th grade on how to live life. I’ve felt lost more times than I’ve felt found.

I imagine this is what Bobby felt throughout his life. First, as the smallest and youngest of all the boys, the “runt” of the family. How he flocked to his mother and religion rather than his father and older brothers. How he forced himself through hurdles to push himself and prove himself to everyone around him. Hell, he had a broken leg for most of his final season of football at Harvard.

Still, he persevered. He never gave up, because he knew that through all the pain there was something greater waiting for him on the other side. And that feeling became even more important to him once President John F. Kennedy was taken from him. He had to push forward, not just for himself, but for a country that needed him at a moment of tumult.

That’s what I like to think about life as, a series of perseverance that leads to greater things. No matter how many times we get knocked down, we get back up because the prospect of what’s ahead is greater than what we left on the ground.

It’s easy, in today’s world, to simply give up. To believe that this country, or this world, just can’t be fixed, but I believe we can do better and we will do better. We’ve stumbled before in this country, but eventually, we get back on the beam. This hiccup now is nothing more than a bump in the road. It may feel like a rather large bump, but we’ll get over it.

If you’re angry, I understand your frustration, and I ask that you take that anger to the polls in November. True change begins with us, not with the politicians. They should be shaking in their boots at what we’re capable of, not the other way around.

So, don’t give up. Be that ripple of hope. Show them what you’re made of.

ra