After a long night at work, I sat out in the parking lot with my friend and we got involved in long deep conversation as usual and on the way home I got one of my "Sparks" as I'll call it. I want to make a speech at my graduation. It's gonna be odd. Here is what I spent basically two hours writing. Tell me what you think.
Pleasantries, diplomacies and introductions….
3 years I’ve sat through a slew of cookbook graduation speeches and quite frankly I’m sick of them and never would have thought I’d want to stand here today and give a graduation speech. This speech is not going to be your typical graduation speech. I come before you all to offer a what I feel is wisdom that will aid anybody, regardless of age or situation, who so chooses to utilize it. For those of you who have known me for a while, particularly seniors in band, and who have listened to the warped bits of shrouded wisdom that I would spout off, usually when angry, please do bear with me. I want ya’ll to know that I stand before you as a very different individual than I was before. A much more humble, wiser and more mature person than before. I want to stress to all of you that I do indeed come you to ya’ll as humbly as I can possibly get. Before I give you my advice, I would like to tell you all something about me that many people do not know so maybe you see where exactly I’m coming from. Very recently, this past fall I’ll say is when it started, I went through some very hard times. Very trying times that I feel has defined me as a person. During these times, I learned an awful lot about myself and about life in general and I’m thankful for what I went through because I would not be who I am, standing before every one of you today. I was basically slapped in the face with the real world. I also discovered that I had mental health issues that needed to be addressed. I was stressed, I was depressed and something that might come as a shock to those who know me, I was actually suicidal. But, with proper guidance, wisdom and assistance from my friends and family I pulled through it and grew as a person. I offer to all of you today what I feel to be very crucial and wise advice that I hope helps you. If I can help one person today, than I know that my life is worth something. The main thing I want to talk to y’all about today is what my sister calls, finding inner peace. Life is a journey, a quest if you will, to find your own inner peace. Only you can find you’re inner peace. Other people can help you achieve that inner peace, but nobody, NOBODY can give it to you. Don’t ever rely on other people to make you happy, you have to be happy for yourself. Nobody can give you happiness. Money won’t make you happy either. I have what I consider to be a very good friend who some of you know as Sierra Santos. Occasionally, Sierra likes to spout off little tidbits of wisdom which I didn’t always accept at the time as the real truth in life. What Sierra always told me when I would be griping and complaining, venting if you will, is that life is what you make it. In my mind at the time I found myself thinking, and this is a much more polite version of what went through my mind at the time, “yeah right, you can’t say that until you have walked in my shoes.” But now having gone through what I have and having worked towards my own personal epiphanies, I find that she is right. Recently, a friend of mine was having troubles and I found Sierra at the time to consult her on what she said and long story short she confirmed that the wisdom I had attained to be what she was getting at. Sierra told me, and this rings forth to be the truth, life is what you make it and sometimes people go through extremely hard times, such as I have, and she said that you can either lay down and play the victim or you can make something of yourself and play the victor. No matter what you’re going through, the only way that you will survive in life is you find your own path to happiness. Find you’re inner peace. From personal experience, I will tell you that the past is the past and no matter what you or anybody else did, you cannot change the past. Do not ever let yourself feel guilty if you made a bad decision. GUILT WILL EAT YOU ALIVE. What you have to ask yourself, and you have to search deep to do this and be honest with yourself, is whether or not you did everything you could do and whether or not you made the right decision. My dad always said that life is a learning experience, you will learn something new every day. If you’ve made a bad decision, any kind of decision, learn from what you did so that you won’t let history repeat. But don’t ever let yourself get arrogant and feel that you know it all because you never will and you have to accept that. Keep in mind though that it is certainly not a bad thing to strive to know it all. Also keep in mind that some things are best left unknown too, your own judgment comes into play here. What all this that I have said today, is what I feel to be some of the most crucial elements to finding your own inner peace and a lot of what I said today I‘ve achieved through personal experience. I’m sure there are more that I haven’t found yet and may never find. EVER. Before I take leave of the podium today, I would like to tell you all how I found my own inner peace. I have now basically formed my life around this philosophy: If I can help people and maybe make at least one person’s day a little better, than I know that I have fulfilled to be what I now find my purpose in life to be. Before these life changing events occurred, I had no purpose here. Whether I help somebody at work accomplish a task, or answer a question for somebody, or passing on my wisdom to assist somebody to help achieve that peace, I know that I have fulfilled my mission. One person can change the world, that is my mission. One last peace of advice, if you find yourself in a bad situation and you know you did everything you possibly could that would help that situation, do not lament. Find peace in knowing that you did everything you possibly could. I would like to thank you all for listening to me today and I hope that maybe today, I helped at least one person in this crowd. For those of you who know me personally, if you ever need a friend, somebody to talk to, you know where to find me. May peace be with you all. Live long and prosper, and may your sword stay sharp.
Pleasantries, diplomacies and introductions….
3 years I’ve sat through a slew of cookbook graduation speeches and quite frankly I’m sick of them and never would have thought I’d want to stand here today and give a graduation speech. This speech is not going to be your typical graduation speech. I come before you all to offer a what I feel is wisdom that will aid anybody, regardless of age or situation, who so chooses to utilize it. For those of you who have known me for a while, particularly seniors in band, and who have listened to the warped bits of shrouded wisdom that I would spout off, usually when angry, please do bear with me. I want ya’ll to know that I stand before you as a very different individual than I was before. A much more humble, wiser and more mature person than before. I want to stress to all of you that I do indeed come you to ya’ll as humbly as I can possibly get. Before I give you my advice, I would like to tell you all something about me that many people do not know so maybe you see where exactly I’m coming from. Very recently, this past fall I’ll say is when it started, I went through some very hard times. Very trying times that I feel has defined me as a person. During these times, I learned an awful lot about myself and about life in general and I’m thankful for what I went through because I would not be who I am, standing before every one of you today. I was basically slapped in the face with the real world. I also discovered that I had mental health issues that needed to be addressed. I was stressed, I was depressed and something that might come as a shock to those who know me, I was actually suicidal. But, with proper guidance, wisdom and assistance from my friends and family I pulled through it and grew as a person. I offer to all of you today what I feel to be very crucial and wise advice that I hope helps you. If I can help one person today, than I know that my life is worth something. The main thing I want to talk to y’all about today is what my sister calls, finding inner peace. Life is a journey, a quest if you will, to find your own inner peace. Only you can find you’re inner peace. Other people can help you achieve that inner peace, but nobody, NOBODY can give it to you. Don’t ever rely on other people to make you happy, you have to be happy for yourself. Nobody can give you happiness. Money won’t make you happy either. I have what I consider to be a very good friend who some of you know as Sierra Santos. Occasionally, Sierra likes to spout off little tidbits of wisdom which I didn’t always accept at the time as the real truth in life. What Sierra always told me when I would be griping and complaining, venting if you will, is that life is what you make it. In my mind at the time I found myself thinking, and this is a much more polite version of what went through my mind at the time, “yeah right, you can’t say that until you have walked in my shoes.” But now having gone through what I have and having worked towards my own personal epiphanies, I find that she is right. Recently, a friend of mine was having troubles and I found Sierra at the time to consult her on what she said and long story short she confirmed that the wisdom I had attained to be what she was getting at. Sierra told me, and this rings forth to be the truth, life is what you make it and sometimes people go through extremely hard times, such as I have, and she said that you can either lay down and play the victim or you can make something of yourself and play the victor. No matter what you’re going through, the only way that you will survive in life is you find your own path to happiness. Find you’re inner peace. From personal experience, I will tell you that the past is the past and no matter what you or anybody else did, you cannot change the past. Do not ever let yourself feel guilty if you made a bad decision. GUILT WILL EAT YOU ALIVE. What you have to ask yourself, and you have to search deep to do this and be honest with yourself, is whether or not you did everything you could do and whether or not you made the right decision. My dad always said that life is a learning experience, you will learn something new every day. If you’ve made a bad decision, any kind of decision, learn from what you did so that you won’t let history repeat. But don’t ever let yourself get arrogant and feel that you know it all because you never will and you have to accept that. Keep in mind though that it is certainly not a bad thing to strive to know it all. Also keep in mind that some things are best left unknown too, your own judgment comes into play here. What all this that I have said today, is what I feel to be some of the most crucial elements to finding your own inner peace and a lot of what I said today I‘ve achieved through personal experience. I’m sure there are more that I haven’t found yet and may never find. EVER. Before I take leave of the podium today, I would like to tell you all how I found my own inner peace. I have now basically formed my life around this philosophy: If I can help people and maybe make at least one person’s day a little better, than I know that I have fulfilled to be what I now find my purpose in life to be. Before these life changing events occurred, I had no purpose here. Whether I help somebody at work accomplish a task, or answer a question for somebody, or passing on my wisdom to assist somebody to help achieve that peace, I know that I have fulfilled my mission. One person can change the world, that is my mission. One last peace of advice, if you find yourself in a bad situation and you know you did everything you possibly could that would help that situation, do not lament. Find peace in knowing that you did everything you possibly could. I would like to thank you all for listening to me today and I hope that maybe today, I helped at least one person in this crowd. For those of you who know me personally, if you ever need a friend, somebody to talk to, you know where to find me. May peace be with you all. Live long and prosper, and may your sword stay sharp.
