09/08/2025
Today is 15 years since my brother’s death. We were very different people but one way we were alike is we wrote to express our feelings. He wrote this for a high school assignment that a teacher gave us after he passed away. She saved it because she said in all of her years of teaching no one took the assignment of the prompt “I am” seriously expect my brother. It is etched on his tombstone. I share today to remind everyone that mental health is real and sometimes people are suffering in silence. Could we all be extra kind to others today in honor of Jason?
I am from
Jason Timothy Daniels 6/16/91~9/8/10
I Am From...
I am from wreckage, from a home broken from within.
I am from success, from a family that has set goals and achieved them.
I am from a paradox, from somewhere that is good, but not good for me.
I am from a small town, from friendly neighbors who gossip about me.
I am from religion, from a society that conforms to non-conformity.
I am from family, from protection, harm, encouragement, and discouragement.
I am from God, from a higher power that has set me in this test called “Life”.
I am from love, from a love for all that is “Right” and “Godly”.
I am from hate, from a hate for “things of this world” and for “wrong-doing”.
I am from you, from the person who cares enough to listen to what I have to say.
I am from them, the people that criticize me and bring me down, so that I can rise above it.
I am from a higher calling, a calling that leads me to believe.
I am from believing, from a belief that Life is generally good, no matter how bad it may seem now.
I am from myself, from my inner beliefs that make me my individual self.
Written by Jason Daniels on September 2, 2009