The Desk Set by awtymn on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

If I were in Neil's shoes, I'd pack my things, leave home, gather most of the money in the house (or all if I want to leave my parents penniless), buy a plane ticket and move to Tangiers, get a job and raise a little orphan girl as my younger sister or daughter. His one ambition in life - besides his own happiness - was to become an actor, so after fifteen years he returned to the States and joined the staff at Welton Academy. Following Mr. Keating's footsteps, he knew he had to speak out wherever he saw injustice and inhumanity - something his daddy did. And like Mr. Keating, he was shunned by all the teachers like a pariah for being idealistic and reckless, but he knew that he was deeply, deeply, deeply, deeply, loved by his former piers. In the movie canon after Mr. Keating left, Todd swore to God above him that he would follow in his friend's footsteps. On my own council, Neil owed it all up to him, but on his terms, he was a weakling, and nobody likes a coward unless they have enough sympathy to give them a chance...for I did not shed a single tear over his death, all I had to say (and this goes for many other children who have committed suicide over bullying and similar problems)..."What a coward!" I am a victim of the autism spectrum, but I am proud, and lucky, and strong enough to live to be 21 years old...and that is the best part of any manhood.