You don't want an autograph, do you? You want advice.

You want to know how to get through it; how how to survive high school when you're different...

Which, and never forget this, just means you're being yourself. People who do that, who stick to that, will always be different. Oh sure, some of us, we're different in a way that comes with a label, that gets stamped loud and clear in other people's minds. And that makes it harder. Because other people have their ideas about that label. They won't see you as yourself: they'll see you as one of “them” - whatever “them” they have in mind.

But that's where it is, that “them”- in their mind. Always remember that. You're being you. Not anyone's label. Not anyone's idea of what that label means.

Not even your own.

Which is one reason it's so tough. Even with all that other crap. The things people do to you: the things people say. Even without that, just carving out that one little shape that's all your own, that doesn't fit any mold: that will never be easy.

But you know what? It's all you've got. In high school or after. It's the thing that will make you strongest, even if sometimes you wish with all your heart you could be like everyone else.

I did. No lie. There were days, I just prayed to be “normal”, to just be like everyone else. But look at me. Look at where I am now.

Because I cupped my hand around that flame, around that tiny flickering light, no matter how hard things got, and I carried it into the world and now it's a torch I hold up high. Crowds come to see my light shine.

And OK, I've got the money and my name in the papers and all those fans. But you know what makes me a success? The fact that I kept that flame alive, that I let it lead me even when I had to struggle to see it. I never let anyone else's hate define me or turn me down another road.

That's my success, right there. Take away the rest of it, I've got that. And you've got it too, tiny and fragile as it may feel now. If you just stay true to it, if you keep it alive, one day you may find you've got a torch to show the world.