Emily+G’s+Final+AmEx+2013+Speech

=Let's Get Honest About Honesty=

=Text of Speech=  In the America I live in, I want to see. That’s it. That’s what I want. I was born blind. I can say with complete confidence that there is not single person in this classroom that knew that. Another fact which you don’t know is that I am one of the highest functioning visually impaired people in the United States. That’s why I have been so successful in keeping my disability a secret. I have adapted so profoundly that I can function at a level which provides the illusion to all of you that I can see. I have participated in dozens of studies, a countless number of tests and much research to cure my blindness. I cannot accept that this is how I am. I want to see colors; I want to see if Mr. Geib looks the way he sounds, if sunsets really are great enough to Instagram. I want the notes I write in class to be useful, not just a façade to hide the truth from my seat partners. I want science to give me my sight. In the America I live in, I want to see.  Honesty, what I really want to see is honesty. I want people to be able to trust each other. I want people to feel guilt for fabricating stories and presenting them to others as fact like I just did. I did that to prove a point; you can say almost anything with conviction and get away with it. Doesn’t it make you feel betrayed? Cheated? Almost disrespected?  I mean, I understand the tendency starts when we are children and want to a) purposefully punish others. I used to bite myself and blame it on Carson all the time when we are little so I’m definitely accustomed to this. Or b) want to avoid punishment ourselves. Fear gets the better of us and we say something in an effort to avoid the consequences. If it works, then we just saw proof that lying is less painful than honesty. For some, this tactic is reserved for the sickest of situations, but for others, lying is the strategy of choice, and as long as they don’t get caught, no guilt is felt.  It seems as if lying has become socially acceptable. We see the government/presidential candidates making false statements to get the majority vote. The media lies to citizens making ridiculous claims to sell a product. Parents lie to children saying the stork dropped them off to avoid an awkward conversation about where babies come from and friends lie to each other to avoid becoming an outcast. Lying has become engrained in American society as much as obesity, apple pie, and baseball. Although, it’s as if people only feel the need to lie when dealing with particular situations or subjects because when actually speaking of baseball with friends, they never fail to mention that they think baseball is soooo boring and only believe it to be a bunch of middle aged men swinging a wooden stick and running in circles. They can’t understand why anyone would like it. Well…I like it! My feelings are not spared in situations like this but if I started complaining about fat I thought I was, compliments would be thrown all over the place.  Why is it okay to openly talk about beliefs about baseball but not how a friend looks today? Why is it okay to lie to your mom about her butt in those pants but to lie about where you’ll be Friday night? If honesty really is the best policy, then why is there so much deception? If being honest makes life so much simpler, then why would anyone purposefully complicate things by being even slightly dishonest? Mr. Geib never fails to remind me that baseball players are the biggest users of performance enhancing drugs and seem to feel no shame in lying about it. Just when the popularity of Major League Baseball was making a giant comeback in the 1990’s it seemed as if all signs of steroid use had been eradicated. The game took a turn for the worse when many major leaguers were accused of using steroids during the end of the 1999 season. Some of the most popular names of the game like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Manny Ramirez, and Alex Rodriguez were caught. All of them had over 500 career homeruns and were hitting 3/10 balls, which is amazing! These icons lied to the public, to MLB officials, as well as to themselves. Additionally, lying like this ruins reputations. My favorite player at the moment, Mike Trout, does not use steroids and is the best player in the American league as a rookie. However, at one time, Barry Bonds was known for his 762 career homeruns but is now the poster boy for steroids. He has been busted so many times that it would be an impossible task to find an American who believed he was innocent. Honesty is so much more than just telling the truth, it requires integrity, guts, and extreme self-respect.  So, since I started this off with an elaborate lie, I’ll end it with some simple truths. I love the Angels even though their record isn’t so great this year. I love wearing Angels shirts to Dodgers games just to piss people off and I actually enjoy watching golf on TV. Yes, I am very much obsessed with Mr. Miller and freak out anytime he smiles in my general direction. I do judge people before I get to know them, I love having the last word in an argument, and I’m only taking Spanish 4Ap next year because if Carson is going to be bilingual, I must be too. Finally, I’m proud to say that Mallory and I are presidents of the I hate Carson Club and are gaining new members every day In the America I hope to grow old in, I want to see honest people with honest intentions.

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