The Student Without A Home And The Cost Of A Future

The flutter of the wind through the walls lined with treasure chests reminded him of the breeze that flowed from the mouths of students caught in a sea of learning. The once-full institution towered over the nearby cemetery, looking down at the empty lots, yet just as lifeless. He waded through the nostalgia as the memories slowly lapped by his feet. Walking past his old locker, full of it's own timeless treasures, more valuable and more rare than the finest diamonds, he couldn't help but open it to see what he would find. To anyone else, it was as barren and void as the classes beside them. He added a small, pale pearl that he had kept hidden with his eye to its grasp. The tears that beckoned to his old friends as they faded behind abandoned walls dotted the floors, staining them with the first sign of life they had embraced in years. He knew that people never stopped learning. HE had never stopped learning. But, to him, the place you go to learn is often more important than the knowlege you obtain. His life had played out its greatest acts on the stage before him. The curtains had been drawn and the audience had left. All that could be said was that this performance would never again be shown here. As it is the water that brings a river to life, it was the empty vessels that came here to be filled that brought this building to life. But, as it is the water that keeps a man from dying, it was the strength of money that kept this center for enrichment from dying. How silly it is, that an echo of worth, decided by men in a far off institution of their own, could smother so easily the hopes of the people here with its absence. If knowledge is power, then it seemed that strength could be cut away by nothing more than an empty number. The pillars of learning that brought futures to the young imaginations had been pushed down not by a show of power, but a draining of it. Ideas that moulded and shaped the dreams of young destiny-forgers had ran dry, just as the value that this beacon of light carried. He turned his back towards the home of his mind one last time. He floated in melancholy back to his new world of uncertainty, distrust, and emptiness. He could tell that the vices that this school fought to defeat had won in the end. At least it had given a lucky few the weapons they needed to resist the menaces that lurked in the shadows of ignorance. Knowledge IS power. People deserve the right to obtain it. Is there any cruelty worse than to deny the helpless dreamer the visions of the future that come with learning? It is the ones who use the tools brandished by their souls and spirits that carve a new perspective into the distance. The only ones who can hand them these tools are the ones who understand that AN EDUCATION IS WORTH WHATEVER THE COST. Knowledge is power. Knowledge is freedom. Knowledge is justice. Knowledge is a right. The man who had been changed by the strength his mind had been granted only wished for the strength to bring a change himself. The strength to change the system. The strength to bring this home to life again. The strength to give everyone the chance at a quality experience that could fix the world. No matter the cost of learning, the profit will always be worth the investment.