Terms of Endearment

A speech I wrote for the class of 2012. Congratulations ya’ll. It’s been a ride. A couple mess ups, and I sped up a little. But the emotion was there.

Goodafternoon, graduates, parents, grandparents, siblings, people who thought there was a Drake concert tonight:

When I was brainstorming what I was going to say, I looked deep within myself to find all of my inner wisdom, and realized that I really don’t have any.

Regardless, I grabbed my laptop and sat at my desk, and tried to type up the most profound thing I could think of.

So here’s what I came up with.

You guys ready for this? Okay, here it goes:

Life is like a giant tree.

It grows fruit, of knowledge, that fall upon horseback riders,

knocking them into chasms of thought

that flow into rivers of love, and oceans of fish and mermen.

And where there are mermen of hope….. there is a little mermaid, and where there is a little mermaid there is Walt Disney.

And where there is Walt Disney, there is magic.

Therefore, life is magic. Deep right, I hope you wrote all that down.

But in all honesty:

I stand here before you aware of the similarities we share. I know you all are feeling, outside of my incredible stage fright, the same things that I’m feeling— pride and accomplishment, closure and regret, and a hopeful outlook on the future — but I don’t think you need me to elaborate on those feelings.

Instead, I wanted to share something personal.

I came to Northgate from Foothill four years ago and I didn’t know what to expect. I was an awkward, long haired Filipino boy who loved listening to American Hi-Fi and played Halo 2 all day long. My mom did my laundry, and picked out my clothes. Pretty much, I guess you can say that I was a weenie.

I did not expect the experiences and memories to make me the person that I am today.

And I wonder:

What’s your story?

How’d you spend your four years?

What do you remember most?

And what are you trying to forget?

Four years is all we had together. It took forever. But if you look back, you can see that it actually went by pretty quickly.

High school is a shared experience: we all hated it, we all loved it.

Moments at least.

But each of us will be a Northgate Bronco: We are the class of 2012.

We are a short, annoying freshman class, We are sophomores, navigating the school parking lots for the first time. We are wannabe juniors, too cool for anything and lazy seniors, too tired to pretend to care.

We are disregarders of school speed bumps, masters of roll-stops at stop signs….We are couples who touch each other way too much in the hall.

We are two week relationships, and we are relationships that have been together for as long as we can remember.

We are Sports Medicine cert study parties, we are whoever put a dozen inflatable dolls on the ceiling of the forum.  We are friends and colleagues of the late Trevor Tonsing.

We are Friday Night Lights, we are Saturday Carwashes. We are those who “peak” at those who “gurp” at the most “pinner” circumstances.

We are unique, we are conformists. We are confirmatory.

(funny) We are laughter, we are loved, and we are lost. We are athletes, artists, thinkers and dreamers. We are the final days of high school, and the final days of summer. We are here, we are now, and we are the future.

What we are and what we have been has been set, but what we become is unknown. You determine your own path, you make your own decisions, and I urge you to be true to yourself in everything you do.

In the words of playwright Charles Mee:

If I could say one think to you, it’d be…..

Do what you love

Not what you think you should do
Or what is all you can do

Or what is possible for you.
No
Do what you love
and let the rest follow along behind
because even if it doesn’t,

you will have done what you loved
and you will know what that is
better than anyone else

and a life centered around your love
cannot be wrong
and cannot be disappointing

So my fellow graduates of 2012, take in the moment, remember how you came to be here, and think of the places you will go. Because the world is yours, and as I said before, life is magic. Thank you very much. Congratulations.