Leah+M’s+Final+AmEx+Speech+2017

__** Grey's Philosophy **__

This summer, I am going to San Francisco. I’m going to go on the trolley, riding it up and down the streets until I’m forced to get off. I’m going to go to the Fisherman’s Wharf to watch the street performers and look at the seals camped out at the pier. I’m going to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge and back and go down to Chinatown to admire the culture. I’m finally going to enjoy myself. I’d stand here and share something else, but this is the only thing I’ve been looking forward to for the past few months, a break from school and work and sports and more school, to simply enjoy life. And quite frankly, with tomorrow being the last day of school, I’m sure summer is the only thing on everyone’s mind. Who wouldn’t be excited for nine weeks of doing what you enjoy with people you enjoy to be around? Though when it comes down to it, it seems quite silly to wait. Waiting for the Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer Breaks, the sunny weekends and rare days with no homework. The times we finally “resume” our life. But did we really have to wait until May or June to focus on our health and resume with our life? As high schoolers, especially juniors, we spend our time focusing on the future, planning and working to ensure we even have one. We put our life on “pause” to focus on guessing which extracurriculars would look perfect to college admission officers. Perhaps more community service, harder classes, a higher GPA, and more braggy awards will do the trick. We do all this planning and waiting for the life we will have in the unforeseen future, as if life has not started yet. I’m sorry to tell you, but, life is happening right now, whether you like it or not. Not after high school or college. Not after you establish your career or start a family. This is it. It’s here. Blink, and you’ll miss it. Why do we dismiss things we enjoy to prepare for a future we can not control. For all you know, your best friend could get hit by a bus or a mourning man could go on a shooting spree. A ferryboat could crash or the road could collapse under you. Perhaps I’m being a bit morbid, or perhaps I’ve just watched too much Grey’s Anatomy. Either way, my point is life is full of the unexpected. So why wait to enjoy it? Why wait to spend time with your family and friends, to tell someone you love them and how much they mean to you, to take the risk, to let go and enjoy yourself. Why not have 30 second dance parties, find the post-it-note kind of love, and enjoy time with your person right now. Not the 13 weeks of breaks we get each year, but right now. Don’t postpone life as if your life has not already begun. Don’t wait to wake up one day and regret the chances you didn’t take. Of course that isn’t to say you should ignore your responsibilities whenever you feel like it, but taking a few hours off your studies to go to the beach or catch up on your sleep or just take a walk outside will not affect your success in the long run. In 50 years from now you will not care to remember the 8+ hours you spent studying for APUSH or what GPA you left high school with. You will not care to remember if you ranked in the top 9% of your class or what colleges rejected you. You will not care to remember how many community service hours you accumulated or how many clubs you were a part of. You will remember the late night conversations and the spontaneous adventures with friends. You will remember the vacation when your brother fell down a waterfall or going to DC with your friend, laughing at the dumbest things. You will remember the good times, the crushes, and the risks you took. You will remember the times you did not put your life on pause. So, make a plan. Set a goal. Work towards it, but every now and then, look around. Drink it in, because this is it. It might all be gone tomorrow.