My Graduation Speech// "As The Sun Sets"

Being Valedictorian, I was forced to write a speech for graduation tomorrow. T_T I suck at public speaking, but oh well. Anyway, I thought I would share my speech with my Gather friends as I will be spending most of the day today practicing it.

"As The Sun Sets"

By: Sammie A.

When I sat down to write this, I had no idea where to begin. There were so many things I felt should be said. So, I did what I always do when confronted with writer's block: I turned to nature for inspiration.

I found myself outside in the front yard watching the sun set through the trees. It was so beautiful that I stopped and watched it for a while, marveling at how all the different colors could blend so perfectly together to form something that I could be so proud of, even though I didn't own it.

I was sad to see it go because of how much I had loved it, but everyone knows that day has to go down to dark. However, I couldn't be sad for too long because I knew that just as sure as day goes to dark, dusk becomes dawn. I knew the beauty would reappear again with the same splendor.

And, all the while, I was somehow reminded of us, here, at graduation. There are so many factors that went into building the seniors you see before you, and there are so many beautiful things that make us who we are. You're sad to see us go, sure, but just remember that there's something just as grandiose waiting on the other side. Don't look at it as the end of one thing, but as the beginning of something else. We have our whole lives ahead of us, and there's beauty just in that fact.

And to my fellow graduates, there are so many opportunities that lay ahead. I enjoy using the analogy of the sunset, in part, because the future, then, for you, is the night. You could choose to think of that as a terrifying way to look at it because some people are afraid of what they can't see, but they would be looking at it from the wrong perspective. You see, what makes night what it is isn't what you can't see, but what you can see. There is always some light guiding you through, whether you realize it or not. The moon, obviously, is the one most people think of, and it's what keeps most people on course, but when the moon isn't there then there are so many other little guiding lights to keep you on the right path, like fireflies. A night cannot be complete without fireflies. What lays ahead, no one can know for any of us, but those fireflies will always be there, no matter what, to light the way through the darkness. I wish you all many fireflies in life.

Like everywhere in life, there will be hardships down the road. It would be a folly if I were to try to deny that. There are so many responsibilities awaiting us after high school that hardships are inevitable. The only advice I can offer is learn to welcome them. If you focus more on the positive than the negative, then there is no such thing as a hardship, is there? It's just another color to add to the beauty of the sunset. I think Tagore put it best when he said, "Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky." Hardships don't pose an inconvenience to life, they are life. Be happy to live them, as you are happy to live every sunrise.

I don't like the analogy that they always tell graduates, teh whole 'spread your wings' thing. It's a nice thought, being able to fly, but it always seems so final because birds never return to their nest once they leave it. Flying is the ultimate goal for them, and once you can fly what else does that leave to do? Regardless of where you hear it spoke of, flying is always regarded as the end, as the final result, the last goal, but that's not what graduation is about. Graduation isn't the end, it's the beginning. It isn't final because there are so many things left to achieve after it, and so life after it stretches on. Sunsets, too, continue forever. They're always with you, and you can count on them, just as we've counted on you, our families and friends, for so long. So, I'll leave you with this instead: live each day searching for your sunset, and each night waiting for that new beginning.