Hemispheres 2019

What’s Not Yours- A Dramatic Monologue
I think it’s safe to say that life as a teenager is not the easiest. We are at
an age where adults want us to stop acting like children, but still don’t
treat us like adults. We learn the most about ourselves in high school,
even if it means constant embarrassment. But understand that whatever
you may be going through, I don’t want you to feel alone. I could tell you a
hundred empty phrases about “Don’t give up” or “It’s worth it in the end”,
but instead, I want to tell you this: your life does not belong to you. You
have shared experiences with people, and made loving, lasting
friendships with individuals who care about you. Along the way to get
where you are, you have been giving away pieces of your life. When you
were born, your parents were left with a piece of you. When your first day
of school came around, all the way through high school, your teachers got
to know you and care for you. The people you sit with at lunch have come
to know you. The people you meet in stores and shops who you
sometimes talk to, even they have a connection with you at some point in
their lives. Little pieces of you get chipped away at and given to others
over time. You may not notice, but it happens. You are a part of their
lives. And for that, your life does not belong to you, and it isn’t yours to
take. You wouldn’t feel anything if you took yourself out of your own life,
but when you’re gone everyone who knew and cared for you feels empty,
because that little piece of livelihood that you shared with them, you
quickly snatched back to make things right in your mind by disappearing,
but that piece of you? It no longer belonged to you, because you gave it
away. Don’t take what isn’t yours just because you think you can justify it,
because no matter what you say, you left them with an empty space in
their hearts for taking what’s not yours.
-Abby McCoy