Jae+Hee+P’s+Final+AmEx+2014+Speech

=Title of Speech= Storytelling

=Text of Speech=

I’ve lived on this planet for 17 years and a half now, and it’s already expected of me to evaluate what in this world needs to change. To be frank with you all, I honestly believe I haven’t matured enough to judge anything really, presuming that I’ve only lived about ¼ of my life. But I digress.

I’ve been thinking for a while, about all the things that upset me in this world. There are many, and as depressing as it may be, I could think of more things that upset me than things that made me happy. But I know I’m not the only one. There are plenty of people living off false happiness administered by pill, both legal and illegal. There are plenty of people agonizing from the abyss of depression, anxiety, yet pretend everything is good and dandy. Many have died already simply because they weren’t happy. I feel as though we set too high standards for everything that the small things we accomplish feel as if they are nothing. The definition of “happiness” according to people of our age would be an acceptance letter from top universities. We compare ourselves to billionaires, child prodigies, and/or young entrepreneurs. But let’s be honest: we’re not them.

At least not yet. And now here you can see the problem. We focus on trying to achieve the very best, and when we don’t, we crash, hard. The GPA never seems to be high enough, extracurriculars not numerous enough, Volunteer shifts not long enough. Discontentment and depression is skyrocketing from all the stress students have put upon themselves, and is only amplified when things don’t always turn out the way they are planned. It’s sad but it’s true. Some people with the best of minds end up on the streets, and some who have never had to work in their lives are living in brilliant mansions with all the luxuries they want.

It seems we are all wanting something that may or may not be in our reach. We may be searching for something that is completely beyond us. And that’s okay, but even if I told you that, you “uptight” kids wouldn’t believe me. I know so because I’m guilty of being unable to convince myself that failing a precalculus test isn’t the end of the world. Instead, I’ll propose a different solution, one that has worked for me. Let’s start with appreciating the little things in life. When we focus too much on the big things in life, every day seems like a life or death situation, and we forget about all else. For me, the little things I like to appreciate in my life are stories.

I grew up reading folktales, greek mythologies, Anderson’s stories, and fairy tales. Stories that I would implement into my life as drawings, play-pretend and lessons for life. Stories were something that helped me relate to other people, who had read the fairy tale themselves, or heard of it since they were little. But it doesn’t have to be published stories. A story to share can be about happy things that happened. Funny accidents, pets doing silly things, or siblings running into sliding glass doors..I make that the highlight of the day. What’s best about stories is the fact that you can share the story with other people, and happiness spreads.

In the America I wish to grow old in, I want to see more storytellers. I want to see more people crafting stories and develop their own style of sharing a story. I don’t want to see people sharing their interesting stories by facebook, where you are limited in word count, and people have a choice to listen to you or not. I want to hear the tone, passion, emotion involved in the story.

There’s an art to telling stories. Stories can’t be interesting if the descriptions aren’t rich enough. For example, I could tell you I stayed up late writing this speech. That isn’t a story. It’s just a statement. I could tell you, there once was a person named Jay Park with a massive writer’s block and she had five hours to finish her speech. So she typed and typed, keys clicking all throughout the night until her speech was finished. Sometimes, it just takes an interesting event to make a story. However, stories can be created from everyday situations by using powerful words and descriptions. If you really have nothing to tell about, step outside, look in your garden, take a walk. There’s really nothing better than going for an adventure by foot.

The stars we are given. The constellations we make. That is to say, stars exist in the cosmos, but constellations are the imaginary lines we draw between them, the readings we give the sky, the stories we tell.” ― [|Rebecca Solnit]

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