Hello Garth Webb,s first full graduating class of 2016 I’m Sebastian in case any of you forgot or still just didn’t know. Four years ago, I first entered Garth Webb; it seems like it has been just been just yesterday I wheeled into the school—did you guys get taller or is just me? I have thought long and hard about my journey and what I ought to say to you guys and while writing this I realized I still hate public speaking even more so this should be interesting, thanks Mrs. McLeod.
I gotta be honest and say that I was pretty nervous about giving a speech; I kept thinking: What if I was like Taylor Swift and someone came up and interrupted like Kanye did back in 2009 but instead they said “Sorry I’m gonna let you finish but someone else had the best commencement speech of all time”. I would be pretty upset if that happens so if anybody wishes to do so you now have a 10 second chance in fact the only thing worse than kanye would be donald trump telling me to get of the stage.
Anyway, I wished I had known what I know now on my first day of high school as the lessons have been important in putting me on the right path to a place I can’t confidently say I was on four years ago. One very famous man once said: “To be, or not to be: that is the question / Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles” (III. 1. 59-61). Hamlet has been given numerous interpretations, over hundreds of years and is still up for much debate even today..
In general, while Hamlet’s famous “to be or not to be” soliloquy questions the righteousness of life over death in moral terms, as much of the speech’s emphasis is on the subject of death. However the significance of this quote to me is different because I did resort to extreme thoughts like Hamlet. I look at this famous line as it is up to you to be the best you can be, and life may knock you down a. I started high school with no confidence in myself, which led me to pretty much sleep through the first first semester—and if you don’t believe me just ask Mrs. Todd, she remembers.
The point I am trying to make is once I started believing in myself, and others did so with me, was able to look past the things that brought me down in life and I hope you guys learn that as well, I let the negative things in life like my disability and my schooling situation bring me down like Hamlet and it has been because of this school I was able start fresh. Today I am very proud of all that I have accomplished and the changes I’ve gone through to lead me on the right path as I am now eligible for university this year, something I did not see myself being able to achieve.
Hamlet was very important in teaching me what I wanted to be and what I did not want to become. Now enough with sad stuff right? Now this quote is going to sound weird, but don’t worry, I will explain: “Even if it was just ten minutes, that human connection was enough to keep me going. ” (A New Man). The short story follows a man who thinks he has everything but his life falls apart when his girlfriend leaves him. Charles now goes through an identity crisis and he decides to take another character’s identity for a chance meeting to deal with his pain.
The quote is significant to me as a person because for the first time I was able to establish friendships in school, which is something I struggled with as I moved schools over 10 times by the time I was in seventh grade. Now there are people in this room and in the school, that I can truly call friends that I know will have my back. I identity with Charles as I know what it’s like to get close to people and then have them be gone, but unlike him for the first time I did not hide behind an image or persona to make friends lead to a much more positive school environment and from personal experience there always there in your time of need.
I now have many fond memories that will last a lifetime, so surround yourself with good people and let others see you for who you really are and your world will get a lot better and on the tough days will give you a reason to smile and come to school. Lastly, Edward Bloom, the main character of Big Fish, is an ambitious, beloved, and unpredictable man. He is a man that explains his life through marvelous stories that almost seem to be impossible.
Though there may be some half-truths to these stories Edward shows his passion for everything he has ever done through these imaginative stories. That was my father’s final joke, I guess. The man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the stories. They live on after him. And in that way, he becomes immortal” (Big Fish). This quote is from the film the “Big Fish” and is being said by Will, son of the main character Edward Bloom. The quote is important because it shows how valuable life is and how we must enjoy it as we never know when it might end. I believe that we teenagers are often caught up in school rather than having fun.
Edward is trying to tell to get out and explore the world and not worry about the future as it will come fast enough, but make memories in the present so that you can have plenty of stories to tell when you’re older. I have tried to live a much more stress free life and enjoy the little things and leave a legacy for myself as the stories and memories as that is all I will have when my time nears the end. To conclude these are the 3 lessons from which I have learned to guide me through my high school experience I hope can appreciate them and they can help you in your future.
