Natasha+U’s+Final+AmEx+Speech+2016


 * You were right. I was wrong. **

A few weeks ago, on Memorial Day to be exact, I went down to VCMC to complete some community service like I do every week. Even though we didn't have school and most businesses were closed in observance of Memorial Day, I thought that the volunteer office would still be open. Despite the wiser, more rational logic from my parents, I went ahead and drove to VCMC. When I arrived at the office, the lights were off and the doors were locked. This should not have been a surprise. Looking back on the events now, it was foolish to belligerently do things my way. My parents were right, and I was wrong.

I think the words “You were right. I was wrong”, are the hardest to say to anyone. It's a simple phrase yet even the best of us have trouble saying it. Why you might be asking yourself? You might be thinking “pft it's not that hard. Anyone can open their mouths and say a few words.” But you would be wrong.

We all have something preventing us from saying those words. Something that grows in size every time we believe that we have the only right solution to a problem. That something my friends, is our egos. No one really wants to admit that they are flawed, it can make them appear weaker, less capable to another person. This is just our greedy egos clouding true judgement. Flaws make us more three dimensional and realistic.

I don't want appear a hypocrite, standing up here preaching that we should all admit our flaws, because I am flawed. Here are some flaws: I am neurotic about always having to arrive early (I get to school at seven every morning), I am stubborn when there is potentially more correct answers than the one I have and I have an addiction to coffee. In my seventeen years of life, this has been one of the hardest concepts to accept and admit to people, after life isn't fair and not being able to stay up until one in the morning re reading my favorite books.

Now, no one enjoys talking to a person with an ego the size of Mount Rushmore. It's a very one sided discussion and the egotistical person would refuse to accept any ideas other than their own. In fact, if the conversation ends in the egotistical persons favor (which would be the other person changing their views agreeing with the ego), said egotistical person’s ego will just grow in size.

This lesson really didn't hit me until a few weeks ago at VCMC on Memorial Day. That is a major flaw of mine, the fact that it has taken me seventeen years to accept that I am a flawed person. Sadly for some people it never hits them.

Realistically speaking, egos are impossible to completely get rid of in an entire country. We live in America, where everything is larger and more accommodating. Here, the less flawed a person seems means they are better human beings, and that leads to supersized egos. America seems to embrace large egos and take it as a sign of perfection. Americans need to move past the expression “my way or the highway” and be more open to creating smaller egos through larger, more open minds.

I would like to grow up in an America that isn't afraid, proud even, to admit their faults and wrongdoings to others. The America I want to grow old in is a place where swollen egos do not exist. I would like to grow old in an America that has better human beings. Thank you.