Rugile+P’s+Final+AmEx+2015+Speech

I Hope You Are Happy
My dear fellow AMEXers,

First, let me start off by congratulating each and every single one of us for getting through this one hell of a year. Through all those study sessions, frantic Quizlet searches, mental breakdowns, and yes, jumping in pools, we have made it to the end and I would just like to thank all of you and especially Fitz over there for being in this adventure together. But now, summer awaits with whatever plans it has in store for us are just within our reach and these torturous days will soon be forgotten under the sun. Afterwards, we’ll return as the kings and queens of Foothill, squashing freshmen left and right and making it obvious that we don’t give a damn. Soon, we’ll be graduating, taking cute pics with our grandmothers at our ceremony then getting totally hammered in preparation for our college days. But then what?

I know all of you including myself are worried sick about the future. Where to go to college, what we’re doing with our lives, or what we’re gonna eat for dinner. But I’m here to tell you that you will be okay. So take a deep breath and listen up nerds, I’m going to give you a five minute pep talk on why none of this matters.

When you look at Foothill, we’re all individual human beings, part of a larger community of a bigger country. When you look at the Earth, we’re all just another number, contributing to the global population going up and down ceaselessly every minute of every day. When you look at our galaxy, we are tiny blobs floating through a dark expanse of bursting stars and flaming masses of rocks three times the size of our moon. When you look at the universe, we are the tinsiest of specks of dust hurtling through the unknown void of time and space. I hope you feel insignificant.

The truth is there are so many bigger things out there than our tiny town of Ventura, than these walls surrounding us right now. There’s bigger things than our SAT scores and how many extracurriculars we partake in. There’s a whole world waiting for us with fascinating people and stories to be told. Of different shores to explore and thousands of different sunsets to bear witness to. We were born into this world to live and in my opinion, looking forward to the weekend only to dread Monday is no way to do so.

I’m not saying we should totally give up on school and flip off the teacher on our way out the door... but what I am saying is that we should complain less and find happiness in the every day. I really don’t care what your happiness is I mean, for me that includes dancing around my house singing Whitney Houston off-key and talking to my shih-tzu in a stupid voice, so if yours is something similar or most likely something very, very different, you should do it. Finding joy through simple activities makes an average afternoon that much more memorable.

Some of my favorite days ever have included just a simple walk on the beach or waving hello to an old man whose face lit up when I just simply asked “How are you?” Now whenever I walk my dog we always stop and talk to each other and I can now officially call myself a member of the Chumash Park Dog Walking Cult. It’s a thing, I promise.

Being kind and having compassion for people can get you so much farther than the things on your resume can. And if talking to people makes you feel uncomfortable, do it anyway because sometimes the area outside your comfort zone can be the place you find yourself. And how are we supposed to know what we want to do with our lives if we don’t even know ourselves?

I find that having faith in the future and not worrying about tomorrow is the reason why I pulled through this crazy year with only one mini meltdown. I truly believe that we will all end up exactly where we need to be and even though at first I thought this was at Harvard or Stanford, I’ve come to realize I really don’t want to spend that much money trying to be someone who I’m definitely not. All of you in here have such bright futures ahead of you and I honestly just like to think about our high school reunion years from now, seeing who fulfilled their passions and who went a completely different route. Who knows maybe you might be a car salesperson or you might be a high school history teacher or you might be hand model. It’s up to you to decide.

That aside, I’m not dismissing the try-hards in the world because I do realize that some dreams are only accomplished through hard work and dedication. We got to the end of this year with hard work and we will finish high school with hard work but when we are set loose in the “real world,” it’ll be up to us to decide how we will choose to put the bread on our table and let’s be honest it’ll be Top Ramen for a while before we can afford to buy bread. But I hope that whatever your passion brings you to, you are happy, you are happy, you are happy.

However, negativity is inevitable, that is true. Happiness is a process and although some people are born into circumstances where that joy is hard to come by, it’s an attitude and an outlook that can shape an entire perception of one’s life. Some of the strongest testimonies ranging from religious to social to political have come from those who have built their happiness out of a darkness.

I want to grow old in America where the status quo is broken and white picket fences are demolished with the courage of those who followed their passions to the core. Because happiness is not black & white and only available to few. It grows and develops and must be nurtured by those willing to embrace the possibility of a content perspective until it has the ability to impact someone else’s happiness

 As I bring this pep talk to an end, I just hope you remember that life is too short to not go super ham at prom or smile at old people, to be kind to others and to work hard, but still remember that everything will be fine. So stop freaking out about that physio final--even though I’d be lying if I said I’m not about to piss myself either-- and go do something that will make you smile.

And remember, make it a great life, or not. The choice is yours.