Being ignorant of the past is to remain a child. Why? Has anyone here ever wondered why the past is so important? Because the past leaves a mark on us. Every decision, every mistake we make changes something. Change is good. We can’t stay the same forever, we can’t always be a child. There’s nothing wrong in being a child, after all, children can learn. From what? Maybe from textbooks. But most surely from mistakes. We learn, we become better, we grow up. We can’t stop growing up, we can’t stop learning, we can’t stop making mistakes. We could study from textbooks, but the information in there is the result of mistakes, trial and error. We wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for those men who, by making mistakes, discovered something that made a change. They embraced their mistakes and learnt from them.
Why are we so afraid of making mistakes then? Because of how it feels making a mistake? Can anyone here tell how it feels? I’ll ask some of the people in the front rows. Dreadful? Embarrassing? Distressful? Two thumbs down? I hate to break it to you but that’s not how it feels to make a mistake, that’s how it feels to realize you made a mistake. Making a mistake feels like nothing, it feels like being right.
If it’s not how it feels, why are we afraid of them? Maybe because of what I said before, being wrong feels like being right, therefore we are afraid of not realizing the mistakes in time. Have you ever made a mistake in which you were so sure you were right and in the end it caused a disaster? It happened to me. It was a geography test, last term of school a few years back. I though hydrography was not part of the topics we had to study for the exam. Although everyone told me it was I was sure it wasn't. So I didn't study it. What happened? It was part of the exam, big part. So big it was almost all the test. Let me tell I did not do well on that exam and because of it I almost failed geography that year. My stubbornness and not realizing my mistake almost cost me my study-free summer.
But probably that’s not the only reason we are afraid of making a mistake. Not only are we afraid of the consequences of being wrong and making mistakes but also of what others might think of us if we make a mistake and what that mistake says of us. What do we usually think of those who get low marks on primary and secondary school? That they are troublemakers, never pay attention in class, never do their homework or are just simply dumb. Taking my example of before, I probably seem like a bad student, who doesn't care enough to actually study. We are taught to believe that if we are wrong, if we make a mistake there’s something wrong with us, and to achieve something in life we have to eradicate mistakes.
So we walk around pretending to be perfect and to never make any mistakes. We like to think that we can’t do no wrong, because, alright, we all understand the theory behind human and mistakes, but when we think about it, right now, you probably can’t think that you ever did nothing wrong. Many say “the past is in the past” and “to live in the present”, but that’s just an excuse so they don’t have to admit their mistakes. If you forget your mistakes, how can you be sure you won’t make them again? Ignoring them won’t make them disappear. But it will probably be a contributing factor on making the same mistake again.
Think of me and my geography test, I almost failed that year. But let me tell you something, after that time never again I did badly on geography or any other test because I thought that a topic is not in the exam when it actually is. Why? Because before an exam I always check twice, thrice which topics are in the exam. I learnt from my mistake and became better. I grew up a little.
No one can be completely ignorant. We all know at least something. And this knowledge we hold on to for the rest of our lives, that we never forget is the knowledge that we learnt after a mistake. Being a child forever is also impossible because like it or not, some way or another we all grow up. We should stop holding on to our ignorance with a death grip and just let go because in the end it is always better to remember our past so in the future we can make better decisions and grow.
(A/N)
This is a speech I wrote for a speaking competition. We had like a casting and guess what? Mine was the best. Unfortunatly the dumbasses I have for teachers and Headmaster decided to give away my speech to some kid who speaks better in front a crowd. What is worst is that he didn't even try writing his speech. It was TERRIBLE. So I'm putting it here so at least there's some recotd the speech is mine. Bye guys!!
