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I Am - a poem by Ryan O'Hara

I am Me.

I am Ryan.

I am a son, a brother, a leader, a student.

I am a role model for my brothers; I try to make my parents proud.

I am my parents, I take on responsibility, using what they taught me.

I am both my families, American and German. I am the bridge between the two, linking culture, language, and our histories.

I am a student striving to become a teacher.

UD is my home away from home.

I walk through campus, to the pace of life. Student milling about, students studying, eating, and talking.  Learning. Debating. Challenging. My life, my enjoyment.

I am my friends. Laughing, talking, having good times. Helping each other, learning from each other, good times and bad. My support.

I am the band. Expressing myself through my music. In company of my best friends.  The music is my emotion. The applause of the crowd, the excitement of the stadium.  Rhythm, drill, lines, angles.  The show goes on, and I with it. Band is me.

I am the words I hear, the words I see, and the words I write.

Book after book, I am continuously reading and learning.

I am sci-fi, I am history.

I am what has been written and read.

Truth to me is too great for words, for language. Simplicity is closest to truth, but infinitely complex to explain.  Language is my limitation.

Art is my expression, my liberation. My freedom for truth without words. Without limitations.

Playing paintball, strategies and tactics, challenging myself. I am the thrill of the hunt, being with my friends, having fun on the field, or on the computer.

I have overcome lost grandparents, loved ones, and lost friends. O, so young…

I have over come peer pressure, and the temptations that come with it.

I don’t drink. For me, for my parents, for my brothers, and many others.

I have overcome myself. My own limitations. My own boundaries. Pushing myself constantly, growing. I try to see all sides of everything.

Always another side, in the continuing search for WHY.

„Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici“

"By the power of truth, I, a living man, have conquered the universe."

History. Searching for WHY. For Truth!

Something I will give to my students. For them to learn, too see all sides. To understand why. To make connections. Challenge them. Challenge me.  After all, if I am a teacher, I am a student. The two are one. I must learn and I must teach, but most of all, I must live and experience.

I am me.

I am the choices before me. The choices I have made. My decisions are me. I am the result of the past, and I am the future.

I am me.

I am Ryan.