wyebloc
12-14-2002, 09:58 PM
this is the graduation speech i gave at my graduation last june... i was salutatorian and was allowed to give a speech- this is what i came up with.
I stand before you today, prepared to give a speech that is unlike all other graduation speeches that will be given by a graduating senior this year. I am not going to talk to you about how this day marks a new beginning, how we are taking the first, real, big step in our lives or about any of the other proverbs present in so many cliché-ridden graduation speeches. This speech is about choices—the choice whether or not to be happy, the choice whether or not to be successful and most importantly, the choice whether or not to be you. Tyler Durden once said, “You are not your job. You are not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the contents of your wallet. You are not the clothes you wear. You are not your Grande latte. You are not the car you drive. You are not your khakis.” You are you. You are not what everyone wants you to be no matter how much you wish it to be so. Therefore, I say stop trying. Be you. Be the real Stefan _____, the real Jenny _____, the real Brandon _____, the real Lauren _____, the real whomever you may be. Be you. Do not settle for what others tell you to be or want you to be. A world full of followers has created a general acceptance of this mindless endeavor that tells us to be what we are not—to be someone else. We no longer know who we are. Timothy Leary says that we have never known who we are. Leary said, “Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening, terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are, or where we’re going in this ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities, the political, the religious, the education authorities who attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations, informing, forming in our minds their view of reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable, open-mindedness; chaotic, confused, vulnerability to inform yourself. Think for yourself. Question authority.” To become your true self you must sacrifice. You will sacrifice trends, fashions, friends, and perhaps family or beliefs. Maynard James Keenan has said, “Beliefs are dangerous. Beliefs allow the mind to stop functioning. A non-functioning mind is clinically dead. Believe in nothing…” When you believe in nothing, you can know yourself and you will be happy. You will experience true bliss and be entirely content. Your breakfast will taste better than any you have ever eaten. With this happiness comes success. All undertakings will be done by choice, and you, now conscious, will find success in all that you do, for the measure of success is the joy obtained from your experience. Choices plague our lives like curses plague a sailor’s dialogue. To make them few and easy to conquer one must think for himself so that he may know himself. On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero. Make the space on your timeline between this day and the end of your life precious. And finally, to the Smithson Valley High School graduating class of 2002 I have one last remark that sums up the assortment of emotions that we are feeling right now, during this fantastic moment that we all are sharing…”Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
i sent this to the band but havent gotten a response (and understandably so...) but im really not expecting one. this is not to beg for a response but rather just to give proof that i have created something positive.
I stand before you today, prepared to give a speech that is unlike all other graduation speeches that will be given by a graduating senior this year. I am not going to talk to you about how this day marks a new beginning, how we are taking the first, real, big step in our lives or about any of the other proverbs present in so many cliché-ridden graduation speeches. This speech is about choices—the choice whether or not to be happy, the choice whether or not to be successful and most importantly, the choice whether or not to be you. Tyler Durden once said, “You are not your job. You are not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the contents of your wallet. You are not the clothes you wear. You are not your Grande latte. You are not the car you drive. You are not your khakis.” You are you. You are not what everyone wants you to be no matter how much you wish it to be so. Therefore, I say stop trying. Be you. Be the real Stefan _____, the real Jenny _____, the real Brandon _____, the real Lauren _____, the real whomever you may be. Be you. Do not settle for what others tell you to be or want you to be. A world full of followers has created a general acceptance of this mindless endeavor that tells us to be what we are not—to be someone else. We no longer know who we are. Timothy Leary says that we have never known who we are. Leary said, “Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening, terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are, or where we’re going in this ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities, the political, the religious, the education authorities who attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations, informing, forming in our minds their view of reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable, open-mindedness; chaotic, confused, vulnerability to inform yourself. Think for yourself. Question authority.” To become your true self you must sacrifice. You will sacrifice trends, fashions, friends, and perhaps family or beliefs. Maynard James Keenan has said, “Beliefs are dangerous. Beliefs allow the mind to stop functioning. A non-functioning mind is clinically dead. Believe in nothing…” When you believe in nothing, you can know yourself and you will be happy. You will experience true bliss and be entirely content. Your breakfast will taste better than any you have ever eaten. With this happiness comes success. All undertakings will be done by choice, and you, now conscious, will find success in all that you do, for the measure of success is the joy obtained from your experience. Choices plague our lives like curses plague a sailor’s dialogue. To make them few and easy to conquer one must think for himself so that he may know himself. On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero. Make the space on your timeline between this day and the end of your life precious. And finally, to the Smithson Valley High School graduating class of 2002 I have one last remark that sums up the assortment of emotions that we are feeling right now, during this fantastic moment that we all are sharing…”Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
i sent this to the band but havent gotten a response (and understandably so...) but im really not expecting one. this is not to beg for a response but rather just to give proof that i have created something positive.