Emma+E’s+Final+AmEx+Speech+2016

 **Surrounding Yourself with the Best Kind of People**  I have met thousands of people. I have met funny people, weird people, wise people, scary people, crazy people, rude people, awesome people and the list goes on and on as I’m sure you can imagine. I believe that just about every person I've met has made an impact on my life, big or small, and has affected me in some way. When i was much younger i had two best friends, Lilly and Jalen. Lilly was the super sweet, very goody-two-shoes, never got in trouble and Jalen was more of the crazy and rebellious one. I remember one time we were all at Jalen's house and we were making crafts in her little play room, and all of the sudden, Jalen whips out this can of glitter and I didn't think much of it until she started throwing the glitter at Lilly and me. And like 5 minutes later her mom walked into the room and that was the first time I ever remember being yelled at by a mom other than my own. She was so pissed and she called my mom and Lilly's mom and had them come over and I could hear them talking crap the next room over while us 3 kids cleaned up the glitter. When I got home after this, my mom gave this BIG talk. At first I was sure she was going to scold me but it turned into more of a life lesson. I had explained what happened and she understood that I didn’t start throwing glitter around first but she explained to me that even if I didn't start it, it's easy to get caught up in something even if you know it's wrong. And then she went into how I need to make sure I pick the right friends and this is the talk that my speech is really based off of. Jalen was a super fun, crazy girl but she got into a lot of trouble I got dragged into just because we were best friends at the time. After that talk I think I did a good job at surrounding myself with good people all the way up until 6 grade maybe when I met this super fun, awesome, crazy, girl that friken ruined my middle school experience. At first I was like this girl is going to be my best friend forever. But then as we got closer she started showing her true colors and how much of a B-word she actually was. She was super rude to parents and she was a horrible fake friend because she confided in me and told me how much she hated our other friends. At that point I was only ever concerned about being on her good side so that she wouldn't talk crap about me to our other friends who she just talked crap about to me! So eventually I took a step back and i realized that she really did not better me as a person in any way. If anything she made me worse. Parents and teachers saw that I was associated with her and automatically assumed that I was just as horrible as she was. Fortunately high school came around and we went our separate ways and I was able to stay away from people like her! Now I have a great group of friends that are super supportive, friendly, trustworthy, and funny that have made the past three years super fun and who have helped lead me to do great things!

So all that being said, I would really like to grow old in an America where people surround themselves with others who build their character and better them as a person rather than getting caught up with the wrong group of people that will influence them in a negative way. In a perfect world, if we were to surround ourselves with high-spirited, optimistic people who motivated us to be and do our best, I think America would be at its best. Often times the people you spend most of your time with reflect on you as a person and play a big role in who you become.

Sources: My life and personal experiences