Josh+R’s+Final+AmEx+2014+Speech

=Title of Speech= True Individuality

=Text of Speech=

Life is short and a lot of students see their paths in life pan out as: In High School they work hard to get into elite colleges. In College they work harder to get their degree and a 6-figure job that they probably hate but won’t admit. Then at their job they work even harder while balancing a unstable family so they can retire rich and then they can die. This stripped down yet slightly true view of life is common in many people whose goal is just to work hard in hopes of reaching goals that just lead to even farther and more difficult goals, and when they come to the not-so-ripe age of 65/70, they realize they wasted their life working in fields they never really liked and along the way they never had any free-time to spend time with friends or family, all because they or other people told them that all this work would promise “success”. So why waste life doing something we don’t like or waste it on a life that is a constant stream of work.

The problem is many of us will still choose to follow the “constant work” path, not because we like it, but because we feel the need to gain a sense of approval from our peers or even because our parents push us to do so. We think that our colleagues will view this kind of life as one that is successful. But in the process, you forgot your own goals and what you wanted to do in life, all in hopes of achieving this stereotypical view of success. We want to follow this idea of success, but we have no idea what to do once we get there, and you end up just being more lost than if you had done something that meant more to you.

True success will not be one of working a job you hate just for the money it gives or the status it brings. True success in an individual is success that bring the riches of enjoyment in yourself where you feel like your work has meaning to you, regardless if you make six figures or not.

We need to stop feeding our egos. There’s a sense of material fulfillment in a person when they hear “Wow you’re going to Stanford” or “Woah you have a six figure job” or even “ Dang you’re taking AP Advanced Space Physics Honors BC”. But a lot of the time, the person doing these things doesn’t really enjoy what they’re doing, they just do it for the status and awe from other people like college admissions officers. If you take advanced classes just so colleges will like you, you show them an artificial view of yourself, one that took life actions to please not themselves, but others. You don’t show yourself as a true individual, one with unique goals and humility. Follow this trend of people-pleasing, and you become a shell of yourself, filled with the aspirations of other people and what they want to see, and all individuality is lost.

We depend too greatly on the opinion of others. We show a need for approval from others through social media. People post pictures of their hangouts or parties on Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat to show how “great” their lives are. Instead of just enjoying their social interactions, they’re focused on broadcasting their lives for others to see so that they can receive a few “likes” and make other perceive that they have wonderful lives. Frankly I don’t get it. Enjoy your precious moments in life and abandon the need to share it to your friends. When you look back on your teenage years, do you wanna see a time where you laid down in the back of a truck and stared at the stars with people you love, or do you wanna remember constantly viewing those moments on a four-inch screen, and being too busy posting pictures to actually enjoy the sight, just so you can portray better self-images to your peers?

Do not partake in actions only to impress other people. One of Gandhi’s ten rules for bettering yourself is: Be congruent, be authentic, and be your true self. In the America I hope to grow up in I want to see more individuals who work towards goals they set for themselves, not what society deems as proper and not what others want them to do. I wish to see more authentic people who don’t morph their personalities to please certain people. Don’t let other people control who you aspire to be and don’t limit or exceed your potential just because other may judge you for your choices. Stay true to yourself, set goals for yourself, and don’t let anyone push you off your course. You need to focus less on your surrounding peers, and focus more on who you yourself, want to be as a person.

=Cite Your Sources= My brain