prodigal son Somebody saw me monologue

I've read Plato. I read Plato on a park bench in the Bronx and let me tell you something.

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It's you that wants the A before you even start but when I say the same thing I'm nuts, right?

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Plato wasn't afraid. Diogenes wasn't afraid. Socrates wasn't afraid. They were men.

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Right. Because it's your school and I'm the student on trial.

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Then you know what I say?

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This school is lost if you ask me, you're lost.

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What about you? Why don't you have to explain yourself?

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What the hell is that? Original sin or something?

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Why am I always in the wrong?

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Why are you the headmaster and I'm the student, you understand?

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Why do I have to listen to you when you have zero to say?

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Why is it your school? Huh?

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You tell me I'm bad before I even get to be anything.

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And more than that, a grown person decided I was good before I was good.

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And this, this school? Has been a miracle for me.

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And you wanna throw me out of that?

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Because I'm young? All my life I've been young, so I never get a turn.

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But everybody talks to me like I'm the one. I should change. Why should I change?

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But not because of you. Because somebody, Mr Hoffman, finally saw me.

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I have to earn your respect but you don't have to earn mine? What is that?

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I'm gonna find my place in this world, count on it.

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I'm not gonna cry.

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I've never even gotten to find out who I am and you want me to change? That's crazy!

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I've never met your God and I don't want to.

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