We were assigned to memorize a soliloquy from Shakespeare. This is the one I chose when I was 16, and a senior in high school.

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury
Signifying nothing.

— Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28)

Tonight, I recalled this incident. I've been wondering if I am "really bipolar." Recalling this soliloquy from MacBeth, I feel -- i.e. recall -- the horrible depression all over again. This helps me accept my disability. Of course, there were many, man other times when I was depressed as a child. I remember several.

One of my siblings also told me in my late adulthood that my parents had talked about me "having manic-depressive tendencies." I never knew about this discussion until I was an elder. But I did want to die, from the time I was about 3 until I got dx'd and therapy/medication when I was in my mid-50s.

In Senior English class we were assigned to memorize some lines from one of the Shakespeare plays we had read. Each member of the class memorized his or her excerpt, and then was required to recite it privately to the teacher at her desk. I was so obviously depressed that this is what I memorized. I remember feeling like I wanted to die, when I recited this to the teacher, whom I really loved. She was a wonderful teacher. I hope that nowadays teachers and schools are more attuned to the moods their students show. How any person could have heard me read these lines, and not realize I was an extremely unhappy child, is beyond me. Nobody else in the class chose to memorize this particular piece, by the way. I was the only one who did.