Roan+M’s+Final+AmEx+2015+Speech

Who cares?

The idea that women are equal to men is ridiculous. Society has climbed to its greatest heights where men were/are dominate. “Behind every great man is a great women” is true. Society has functioned its best where women know their place they were biologically made for. America was founded on these principles and it rose to be the greatest country in the world within the first 200 years. I believe women were made for a purpose and that is to raise children to be strong, good humans that can benefit society as a whole. This is not just in America, if you look across the world, the greatest strives forward are made by men, coincidence? I think not. Now on to immigration. Its an issue, having so many mexicans come into america to take our jobs and destroy the core values of a true American is sick. Illegal immigrants need to be deported, if they can’t come here legally then they shouldn’t be here at all. You may be asking yourself what these two ideas have in common and the answer is absolutely nothing aside from the fact that that they are both wrong. I hope that I have pissed off nearly all of you through stupidity, and I want to sincerely apologize for everything I just said. Don’t worry, I didn’t just go up here to have a racist/ sexist rant for the hell of it, it has a purpose. Now I can start my real speech. I want you to remember that feeling you had towards me while I was giving a speech composed of ignorance.

Capture that feeling of anger, frustration, sadness and savor it because it means you care. If you felt the need to run up here and kick me in the crotch that is great! You care about what I said and it made you want to do something about it. This basic idea of caring branching into every aspect of human nature, caring drives us, it motivates us and can be the determining factor in making a change for the better or possibly worse. Being in foothill especially in an AP class we are privileged to be in an atmosphere that is opinionated about damn near everything but outside of this school or maybe even classroom we are in a country where people are complacent and passive. They are uneducated on important topics and in all honesty, tend to not give a shit even if they are. To be blunt this pisses me off, I want to punch a person right in the face when I ask them about immigration and the only thing I hear out of there mouths is “lock the border” or “let them all in” with absolutely no evidence or idea that can support their opinion. Technically this single minded response is caring but not by my definition. I want everyone to have an opinion on any given topic and not one based on ignorance, or prejudice.

For most there must be a direct effect on their own lives to care about an issue or maybe be educated enough on the topic to feel empathy for those who were affected by one. If you care or are uncomfortable enough with the status quo you will fight to change it. The idea is that people care enough to fight for change before it is merely a threat to their own comfort. I want people to have this spark of emotion before it affects them directly. A society where people have this passion, whether it comes out as anger, happiness, sadness, it doesn’t matter. Caring alone does not make change but it sparks it. Caring is the catalyst to change.

Going on this idea of caring some of you may believe that there is a singular path as to what caring is and the changes it should spark. You are wrong. I want to live in a place where the people care about the hardships of a mother who feels she is forced to have an abortion and cares about the baby in her womb. A place where the people care about the struggling families in mexico and care about keeping America's borders safe. There are many sides to caring and there is no perfect answer. This is why debate is important, where all sides of an idea are looked at, talked about, and analyzed. But keep in mind that the solution is almost never on the edges, but typically in the middle. Compromise is key, after all, it’s what gets us through the day. I want a world where people find answers and not just arguments. I want people to care enough to seek knowledge. For caring is the driving force and knowledge will bring the solution. I want each and every one of you to go out into the world and care about something, and next time you fight for a change and you address that underlying monster of a question... Who cares? I hope you look back to find a sea of people behind you. This is the America I want and am in desperate pursuit of. I want to live in an America where we change ourselves from a “who cares nation” to a “nation who cares.” Thank you.