As life goes, so do I

Audition Speech for Valedictorian

* there are some parts I've left out,- also look up Erin Hanson, he's my favorite poet*

There's this poem that I came across in middle school that really stuck with me. And to give proper credit, the poem is by Erin Hanson.

Let me tell the tale

Of a girl who didn't stop

Who climbed up every mountain

Without pause upon the top.

She'd dance until each blade of grass

Was clothed in drops of dew,

And the sun knew her by name

But the silver moon did too.

For a fear had settled in her bones;

A fear of sitting still,

That if you're not moving forward

It must mean you never will.

So in time her dance got slower

And she looked at all she'd seen,

But found gaps inside the places

That'd she'd never fully been,

For she was a human doing

Human moving, human seeing,

But she'd never taken the time

To simply be a human being.

At the end of my senior year, I believed that focusing on my studies throughout these four years would guarantee college acceptance, and ultimately the chance to start and live my life. And guess what?... I was rejected by all the colleges I applied to. The moment when I received that last rejection letter, I lost all motivation to continue through my senior year. I was so ready to cancel all my AP tests and throw away all my efforts. But after a good amount of reflection, I realized my perspective on everything: what grades mean to me, what college I got into, what college I should panic apply, and life as I know it was completely wrong. Like the girl in the poem, I was that human moving, seeing, doing, but never actually being. I look back at my years, and yes I had great times, but all I can really remember is constantly trying to live up to an expectation that I believed was required of me. So when I got this opportunity to speak today, I wanted to leave you guys with a message.

I recently learned two lessons. The first is that rejection can become redirection. Rejection can become redirection. When we fail, we must remember to reflect, reset, refocus, and continue to move forward. We are going to fail many times, but it's not about failing. It's about getting back up. The second lesson is that there is no appropriate or set time that we must wait for to take initiative in our lives. Whatever that initiative may look like for you. Starting on a project, applying for a job, whatever it may be. We often forget that we are already living. Let's take action now, decide now for ourselves and our future.

And I say this to every single person who feels like they aren't living, who have FOMO and feel jealous, weighed down by personal issues for their mental and emotional sake. Or depressed because of the controlled content that people post on social media about their adventures and living their lives. Especially for those who made grades and extracurriculars their everything in life. And for those who feel dead inside, even though we say it as a joke, there are those moments where we feel there is truth behind that joke. One lesson that we for sure learned during this pandemic, is that tomorrow is not guaranteed. So again we must live now.

With that said, let me leave you with my own spin to the end of that poem I shared earlier about the girl who was a human doing, human moving, human seeing, but not a human be-ING.

But the girl had learned to breathe,

let herself smile and laugh as she pleased.

For she finally understood that a pause

upon the top of every mountain

Should be a rest stop

to look and enjoy the view.

Remember, we're not waiting on the world, the world is waiting on us.