To The People Who Judged Me,

Thank You. You made me better for you thinking that you had the right to judge me. You got to think that you were better than me, and, hell, maybe you were. But for that, you should be proud, proud that you find yourself on a different platform then everyone else.

I always found it a little weird to say "we all make mistakes," but we do. We do stupid things, and sometimes they catch up with us, and they bite us in the ass. And sometimes, when we are lucky, they go unnoticed. Regardless, things happen. We all do things we regret. It's called life. But the problem with making mistakes, is people find it their problem to take upon themselves to cast judgment upon those who have made mistakes.

And we've all done it. I've done it. You've done it. We do it all the time. We judge pictures, we judge cars, we judge outfits, we judge money, we judge spouses, we judge jobs, and we judge people. It's in our culture, whether we like it or not.

But who gave us the power to judge people who sin differently than us?

The mistakes I make are different than the mistakes you make and all of them are different than the mistakes the person you judge make. That doesn't mean my mistakes are worse than yours. And it doesn't mean that I'm simply a better person because my mistakes are different than yours.

Life is hard for everyone. It's not easy, it's not simple, and it does not come with a handbook on how to navigate the troubles we go through. It's not just a walk in the park, and we are all going to screw up. Anyone can tell you that. But life is hard enough without having people pass judgment onto you. But we do. We make people's lives harder for what reason? To make ours better? That's not really how it works.

You sat around. You told your friends. And you laughed at me. You scolded me. You made yourself better than me in your eyes. And maybe you are better than me. That's very possible. I've made a lot of mistakes along the way. I've messed up. I have broke the rules. I have broke the law. I have let my parents down. I have let my friends down. I have been pressured into situations I shouldn't have gotten myself into. I have loved boys that weren't worth loving. I have lost friends along the way. & I've taken pictures that I should't have. But I am okay. I really am. I am here, and I am so happy.

We have all made mistakes. Sure, some are worse than others, but they are just mistakes at the end of the day and at the end of our lives; they are just mistakes. And we all have regrets, even if you don't believe in them. We have times in our lives that we wish we could get back, but that's what makes us human.

You can regret a lot of things. But we should never regret things that once made us smile, laugh, or happy, even if we consider them mistakes now.

The people who judged me had the right to judge me. I can't stop them, no matter how hard I try to. But I just want you to know that while you still are sitting around, talking poorly about me, I am still here. I am still happy. And I am still going to live my life. I highly suggest you do the same.