Seeing Things

The Speech - Seeing Things

Good Morning students and Mr Henry. As I am sure your all aware, for this English assessment we had to, chose a topic that is a personal issue to us. I have chosen the topic of 'seeing things'. The majority of you probably thought I wasn't even going to do this assessment and that's fair, why wouldn't you think that when in all the other classes I'm lazy, falling asleep and failing. It's a fair comment and I  probably would think the same if the roles were reversed, but over the years I've begun to see how easily misinterpreted a situation can become. People just see things from a person and assume that's what's causing them to act in that particular way, but more often than not the way people 'see things' aren't actually correct. 

For those of you who don't know, I'm Mike and I'm turning thirteen in three months, two weeks and one day. If you had never met me or seen me before what would you think of me? You would just assume that I'm your average everyday child, with a loving family, a beautiful home and no worries in the world. That's nothing like my life, and I'm sorry to say it's not even close. 

 I have been told countless times that I'm a dumb kid and I'll never amount to anything. Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs and Walt Disney were all told the same thing and look where they ended up. The only reason I've been told this is because of the way I act, but you don't know a thing about me. You're seeing what you want to see and interpreting it however you want. 

You claim I have no friends and that I'm a weird child. I fall asleep in classes and you call me lucky because the only reasonable explanation is that I stay up late playing video games. That's not why I fall asleep in classes, though. Again you are all just seeing things in a way that only makes sense to you. 

Let me now tell you why you are wrong about my whole life. My loving family; well that just consist of mum and I. What happened to my dad you ask? Well, my mum left him one day because she was tired of playing 'happy family' with a guy that continued to abuse her day in and day out. My beautiful home; well that's a little shack that's basically falling apart. And I probably have more worries that you do. 

you may say I have no friends and that I'm weird, but the only friend I need is my mum and I know I'm special to her, and that's all I need. I fall asleep in class because ' I play video games till late' when in actual fact I fall asleep because I'm exhausted. I'm exhausted because I am cleaning our home, cooking dinner and making sure that my mum has to do as little as possible. As she has three jobs and is always picking up any shifts as possible, just so she can provide for herself and I. 

I didn't speak about this particular topic in an attempt to win or make friends, I spoke about it because I want people to understand things aren't always as they seem, sometimes you just see things in a different light than what's actually occurring. Everyone is always going to judge one another and see things in their own way but what I hope to see happen is that maybe before you start to judge and see things the way you want to see them, talk to them, get to know them first, look at it from their point of view. As sometimes you can be seeing but not seeing enough.