Dear Skeezie, Today I ran after a boy as he was trying to get away. I tackled him and we both landed in the mud. Do you think I appeared desperate?-Joe Bunch

We all start out thinking that there is such a thing as perfection and that there's something wrong with us if we settle for less. First we won't eat the food with the brown spots. Then we hate ourselves because we have our own brown spots—pimples or ears that are too big or legs that are too skinny.

The way I look at it, love does not necessarily make for a happy ending any more than winning does. What makes for a happy ending is what Addie said all along: freedom. The freedom to be who you are without anybody calling you names. —Bobby Goodspeed

Sticks and stones may break our bones, but names will break our spirit.

Life is short and there will always be dirty dishes, so let's dance.

The point is that something I thought was perfect has been broken, and I'm having to find the beauty in what is there instead of what I thought was there. Like this shell. I can either spend all my time wishing it were perfect, trying to imagine it the way it was or might have been, or I can see how beautiful it is just like this.

Sometimes I wish I were a character in a book and there was a writer out there giving me things to say.

A day can start out ordinary and end up being in the top ten. —Joe Bunch

So does being cool mean you get to go around calling other people names?

Crying can help, too. People are often afraid to cry because they are told that crying is for babies. Crying does not make you a baby, no matter what anyone says. There are times when people feel so bad that they can't express their feelings in words. At those times, crying helps.

I am about to stop being a get-along kind of guy and turn into somebody who makes a difference.

[Button] If Gay and Lesbian people are given civil rights, soon everyone will want them

And that's an even greater love: to love somebody when he's a little...worn at the edges. —Teddy Bear