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Recommended: persuasive essay
It is probably a mistake that I am standing here giving a speech for graduation. In fact it is probably a mistake that I am even graduating from this school at all -- believe me, just as most people in this class I have tested the limits of attendance, of sleeplessness, and of procrastination. At the beginning of my high schooling, I was even testing dropping out ... and if that wasn't a mistake, I don't know what was. After four years of Starr altering our minds, it seemed most fitting for me to spend my four minutes talking about mistakes. Thank goodness for them, by the way -- it is only when we truly screw up big time that we are ever stopped in our tracks -- stopped, briefly, to learn lessons of worth. Sometimes, the value of mistakes are seen on a smaller scale; having a semester final turned back with more red marks than a Freshman without Clearasil. Isn't it then when we step back for a moment and look at ourselves? When on our Biology test we couldn't tell a cell from an atom, or an atom from an Eve; when on the math test, we pray to a higher power for a sign, and he give...
As our time together draws to a close, I leave LHS with no further anecdotes of wisdom or quotes dealing with success; only the sincere hope that you immersed yourself in the essence of commencement. Everybody, we’ll all be graduates by the time we leave tonight. Let’s enjoy it. Congratulations to the Lee High School Class of 2006.
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote, "You are a very special person - become what you are." These words encourage us, the graduating class of 2012, to recognize the goodness and potential in each and every one of us and to go out and excel in the world. We are a diverse group of different aspirations and backgrounds, bound for different corners of the earth to carve out our won individual niches. Before we leave behind Lee Falls High School and each other, we must ask ourselves how we have become who we are.
When I was in elementary school, I loved to read. I was a total nerd back then ... okay maybe I still am, but one thing has changed. Now I don't so much like reading. My favorite poet was Shel Silverstein, who wrote "Where the Sidewalk Ends." He seemed like he was a total hippie, but that's cool because I like hippies. My grandma is a recovering hippie. I like her too. Anyway, Shel Silverstein wrote about the coolest things. He wrote about magical erasers, eating whales and a boy with long hair flying away from people who were taunting him. He captured all of the things that I loved without knowing that I actually loved them. Now you may ask, how does this hippie relate to our graduation? Well, he wrote a poem entitled "Traffic Light" and this is how it goes:
Imperfections that are not worthy to be proud of, are better to give up earlier than later. We have seen even eminent folks missing the mark at times. They appear to be helpless and hold it for a long.
In the past, I’ve made numerous mistakes. They all were very similar, most of them being related to school, sports, friendships, or even as simple as arguing with a parent. Although I had many, and learned quite a few lessons from them, most of these mistakes were not life changing. I would usually just be grounded by a parent, or get half credit on the homework because I didn’t do it correctly. Those mistakes were not as grand, or complex, or painful as my favorite mistake. I hadn’t realized until I reflected on the event, but my favorite mistake was when I broke my collarbone playing flag football in sixth grade.
Good evening. Some of you out there may not realize this but those of you who attended Suntime Middle School have been with this guy for the last seven years. I would like to ask you all, not just Suntime Middle School grads and who all else, to join me in thanking Mr. Weather for his patience and dedication to the success of our education over the years. We are the Class of 2000. The first graduating class of the new millennium. The past four years have been pretty wild. We started out as a bunch of rats in a small cage, but as time went by we learned and matured and became big rats in a new small cage, but in any case, the cage door is now opening; the handlers turning us wild things loose. As we leave "Where the Wild Things Are," home to some of the best cat fights, fist fights and food fights this side of the Cascades, I have a little surprise for all of you sitting in front of me here tonight in your caps and gowns … we ain’t seen nothing yet!
"A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying." (B.F. Skinner)
You see, I won’t tell you today to: “Dare to dream” or “Find your own vision” or even to “Strive for excellence,” or any trite cliché that’s ever been said in a graduation speech. So this might not be your typical commencement. I have no list of “Do’s and Don’ts” for you. I don’t have any funny stories about politicians or teachers. I don’t have any jokes, nor do I have any interesting quotes from real famous people. And so you may be wondering. Why?
Betty Lou is right -- Our achievements of the past four years have been an honor. And so I offer my congratulations to each of you for achieving the honor that comes with high school graduation. Up to this point, high school may be the most exciting and difficult experience of our lives. We've enjoyed the carefree and happy times with WWF-style pep assemblies, dances, Junior T-P nights, and classes with friends. We've had our bad days too, though. The days when we forgot our semester project for C.I. at home, or when we couldn't stop falling asleep and Mr. Gnome made us get up to "open a window." But far worse were the times when we felt alone. We've all had days of personal crisis when we've felt rejected by those around us or alienated from them. Hopefully, we were fortunate enough to have had a friend come rescue us from isolation, but perhaps not.
...s and a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush yadda yadda yadda. But, most importantly, have a sense of humor and cherish this gift of spasms and primitive noises as a part of human nature, before you age to the point where your heart will stop if you laugh. Laugh at life’s ironies and disappointments. Laugh at your society, your friends, and yourself. Laugh at Carrot Top even, not because he is funny, but because he thinks he is funny, which is so pathetic and absurd that it actually is funny. I’m going to end with a fitting quote. It’s not by Jefferson or Emerson as is customary in graduation speeches, but by the Harvard graduate, talk-show host, and comedian, Conan O’Brien. “If you can laugh at yourself loud and hard every time you fall, people will think you’re drunk.” Thank you Northglenn High class of 2006. I hope to laugh at you all again in ten years.
Do you think mistakes are always bad? And it means you’re a failure? Mistakes aren’t always bad as we may think, they enlighten us and make us be stronger in the future to do better things in our lives. I always thought that by doing something bad, it will make us regret our lives and our past; that it will make us be ashamed of ourselves but I have realized that I shouldn’t think that way. Mistakes are like levels in a game, you may be able to pass them without getting harmed and they will teach you something new especially when you overcome the boss level called disappear, you feel relieved and joyous, so next time it comes again, you will know how to overcome it.
In fact, as I sat down to write this speech the best form in which I could think of giving it was to compare our lives to a meal. In that meal, high school is merely the first course or an appetizer, a small sample that wets our appetites for the main dish. In the midst of indulging in our appetizers we sometimes forget that there is a main course yet to come.
The great big orange doors. The doors that we have grown so fond of during our four-year stay at Tropics High School -- the cafeteria doors. In an attempt to get to the Commons a split second faster than the person next to you, how many times have you opened those orange doors so hard and fast that you've gone BAM! and heard a response of a groan ... OW! Then in reaction to the yelp, you turn to see a boy with a freshly swollen red spot right in the middle of his forehead. "Sorry," you say with a cheesy grin and you skidaddle away as fast as you possibly can. You never see this boy ever again, except in the most random places and though you don't know his name, you'll always remember to never open the big orange door so fast and so hard ever again. As insignificant as he was in your life, he has taught you a lesson.
I did not get to know many of you. So, I cannot be certain of how you feel, but, as for me, this year has been, by far, the most enjoyable and eye opening one of my high school career. Enjoyable because of the new, interesting friends I've made and of the fun times I've had, and eye opening because of my being forced to look towards the future. Not just day dreaming and imagining about the rest of my life, but finally having to sit down and make some definite decisions concerning it. For me and many of you, colleges have had to be applied for and decided on and scholarships filled out. Some of you have been looking into vocational schools or the military, while others will be going straight into the work force. Whatever your case may be, we've all had one thing in common in that we've been planning for our futures. Since the decisions we make now or soon will impact the rest of our lives, I'd like to take this time to share some advice with you all.
Class of 2012, tonight is the last time we will share together for many years. After tonight, we will begin a new chapter in our lives. This chapter will lead us away from each other, but the memories we've shared will continue to stay. The years behind us have been full of challenges and rewards; these experiences will be there to guide us as we branch out into the world.