These next four years will be really... weird. You’re going to have stress, funny haircuts, late nights studying for stuff you don’t really care about, and a lot of people will come and go in your life. You’ll be confused, and then you’ll be even more confused, and you’ll have some epiphanies here and there. For the majority of high school, you will be in your own world, not paying much attention to what goes on in others around you, and you will be insecure. Do not worry, child. This is all part of the plan in crafting the best you there is possible. There are many things life will haul at you that you won’t really understand until it’s over. It’s your job to overcome it, to thrive, because the world can be a hard place and it can break you. These next four years you’ll begin to grow consciously aware of yourself and of those around you. You’ll be tempted to try things like drinking, smoking weed, sleeping around, doing things your friends are doing because it seems like the cool thing to do. Your excuse? You’re in the process of “finding yourself.” But it doesn’t have to be that way.

You will probably overachieve in high school. And you’ll take AP English because it’s an easy A and you get the weight. Even though I know you didn’t take this class for that reason, many of your other classmates will have. Here’s why you should really take it. All the things I mentioned before? English class encompasses all those messy feelings and the process of self-development. This class isn’t just some class where you memorize theorems or definitions in order to pass a test. This class is all about understanding, being insightful, and reaching profoundly paramount ideas. These are the ideas that shape the world. This class is a class on life. If you do well, you’re one step closer to becoming a better human being. A better citizen. A better friend, lover, daughter, and young woman. If you do well in this class, you don’t pass just any test — you pass the test of life. You pass the test of love and compassion. You write essays to practice deep critical thinking. This thinking is what distinguishes us from animals. We are the only species that can think of the past and the future. This ability, extraordinary yes, is dangerous when we don’t know how to control it. The humanities is so crucial because it teaches us how to be when things don’t go as planned. When tragedies strike. When life inevitably happens. People will pass away, you will fall in and out of love, friends will outgrow each other, promises will be broken, accomplishments may not always come, and you will realize that nothing in this world is certain. Such is life. English explores all these concepts and leaves us with a general notion that even though bad things will happen—life is still worth living. There is a way to get through even the ugliest things, because with bad there is always good. With darkness there is always light. There will come an embrace from an old friend after years have passed. There will come another glorious sunrise. There will be old memories we call home. The humanities, English, literature—they all reveal what is real in this world. Yes, the horrors, but also the insurmountable love and happiness that can exist.

You will read Hamlet and discover how overthinking does more harm than good, how the words we say to others matter, and how fragile the human condition truly is. You will read The Big Sea by Langston Hughes and learn how unpredictable life can be, how good things come to those who wait, how the kindness of strangers can get you through the night. You will read The Stranger by Camus and realize that this is your life, and only you can decide what it means and what you want to do with it. There will be more concepts that explore even further what it means to be alive—love, prejudices, stereotypes, expectations and society. Without the humanities, we would never progress as a human race.

So hold tight, kid. You don’t know everything yet even though you think you do. Study hard, and don’t worry so much. It all works out in the end.