Sirisa+G’s+Final+AmEx+2014+Speech

=Title of Speech= Doing what you want to do

=Text of Speech=

I was one of the people who had the most time to get their speech together, but I still ended up writing this last minute. Not because I procrastinated, but because I didn’t know what to say. I watched a bunch Vimeo videos from last year’s juniors, I refreshed the wiki page every few minutes, I searched “speech topics” in Google, but nothing sounded interesting enough to talk about. I started to feel frustrated so I decided to take a break and watch some Youtube videos. Though I did try to relax, I was still on edge about finishing this speech on time, so I watched videos that I thought would spark some sort of inspiration. One of the videos I watched was a Draw My Life video. The title is pretty self explanatory. It’s where a person narrates his life story while drawing on a whiteboard to represent it. Anyways, at some point in his life, this youtuber would drop out of college so that he could focus on making videos. Instead of completing his major in Nuclear Medicine, he went to pursue this career on Youtube. It’s strange because making videos online isn’t exactly a traditional career path. When I think of jobs, I think stable, money, and benefits. Fun and enjoyable come second. If I decided to go after one of my dream jobs, I’d most likely end up in thousands of dollars in debt. And that’s what I found a little disappointing. Why should it be so difficult for people to do something they want to do?

I think it’s sad that things like being a writer, dancer, director, or a photographer are usually referred to as “hobbies” and not viable careers. I mean, I understand that it’s a competitive field and that one might even have to spend thousands more to perfect his skills at some expensive college that won’t guarantee an immediate job because it’s just that competitive. But when I see others putting in the risk to pursue their own dreams and eventually being successful at it, I can’t help but wonder if it really is so unlikely that others could do the same. If some people can chase after their dreams, why can’t I? In the America I hope to grow old in, I want to see more people getting a career they genuinely enjoy and are happy with. One that would still allow them to support themselves without needing to be employed at a second workplace. I’d like to hear less people saying “Why don’t you get a real job?” and more supportive comments for something that I feel really committed about. Maybe it is naive and childish to think a “hobby” could ever be a proper career choice and maybe if I ever do get a job I don’t like, I should just suck it up and deal with it, but I want to stay optimistic. People keep saying we only have one life and that we should make the best of it, so why spend it somewhere miserable? Why not take a risk? And honestly, I don’t even know what I’ll be doing in the future, but whatever happens, I just hope I’ll have have fun doing it. Thanks.

=Cite Your Sources=