Valedictorian speech

Going through all the stuff that has accumulated in our basement over the years, I have found some very interesting items. One was the speech I wrote for high school commencement. It's a cheesy, stereotypical graduation speech but I remember working hard on it. Here it is in all it's splendor:

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

It's funny how a quote said by Confucius more than 2000 years ago can have such an important message still today. We, the class of 2000, have fallen, and will fall many, many times. These failures, these setbacks, should not cause us to quit. In fact, they should bring us one step closer to success. No matter where our paths lead us, there will be road blocks we have to face and overcome They may slow us down, but they teach us much. The first time you touched a hot stove you learned never to do it again. You fell off your bike the first time trying to ride but you eventually succeeded didn't you. We were all born to succeed, but in order to succeed, we must allow ourselves to fail.

We are at a point in our lives where we have to face many decisions. Our lives are about to change completely. We all want to get the big jobs and make lots of money. If we can just get these, then we will feel we will have succeeded in life. We should set our goals high but reach them one step at a time. Right now it feels like we are moving at an incredible pace and can't slow down until we have reached the top. In order to succeed, not only in our jobs, but in life we have to stop and smell the roses.

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."


There were 10 valedictorians that year. Yeah, our school didn't weight grades. I'm sure no one was listening to my speech (aside from my parents). I don't remember where I was in the line of 10, but I wasn't first which means everyone was already bored :-) It's a good thing because somehow I missed the memo that all of our speeches were supposed to tie in with Dr. Seuss's "Oh The Places You'll Go." I was quite stunned when I started hearing everyone's speeches! I wasn't the only one who didn't get the memo (I don't remember who else was in my boat), but the majority apparently did. I am 100% confident that this "theme" was not discussed when we all met to decide what we were going to do. Apparently sometime between that one meeting and the actual ceremony someone came up with the idea and it just never spread. Or a group had an evil plot to make the rest of us look silly. Who knows. Regardless, I'm sure no one cared enough to notice aside from those of us actually giving the speeches.