Alex+B's+Final+AmEx+2015+Speech


 * Title of Speech **

The Gambler’s Fallacy


 * Text of Speech **

Well, nerds, the end is nigh. The clock is ticking down to the last second of the last day of the hardest year in our academic careers so far. How’s everyone feel? You probably won’t pay too much attention to this speech, because I know, last speech on the last day. However, I’m here, in perfect timing for summer, to tell you about what life owes you. So as many of you know I play baseball for Foothill, and I wanna tell you one of my experiences on the team this year. So at some point about a month ago, it was my turn to go up to the plate and try to get something started in the beginning of an inning. I got up there, expecting a fastball, as most pitchers threw that for a near-guaranteed first strike pitch. However, as the pitcher released the ball from his hand, I realized he was throwing me a curveball. The pitch dropped in for a strike, and I stepped out of the box and relaxed myself. I stepped back in, this time expecting some sort of off-speed pitch, expected the pitcher to throw me something easy enough to throw for a strike but would still keep me on my toes. Contrary to my beliefs, the pitcher blew an 80 mile an hour fastball right down the middle of the plate. I know, baseball talk, pretty boring. Now I was down 2 strikes, taking deep breaths and refocusing. It has to be a curveball this time, something out of the zone to get me to chase. Again, a fastball. The pitch I had been looking for the entire at-bat, right down the middle of the plate, slightly slower than the last one he threw, again right down the middle. I swung way too late, and headed back to the dugout on a strike-out. Bear with me, baseball talk is almost over. When I walked back to the dugout, I naturally started complaining about how the pitcher didn’t throw me what I wanted, how I had been expecting a fastball the entire at-bat. One of my coaches called, “Beamer, come sit with me.” I went to the end of the bench and sat with him. “You’re falling into something called the Gambler’s Fallacy.” Now, I thought what most likely a lot of you thought, what the hell is the Gambler’s Fallacy? I asked him and he elaborated, “It’s a gambler’s thought process. Let’s say a gambler bets on red, but it lands on black. Now, this gambler is thinking, It has to be red next time, it has to. Now, there’s the problem. It could be black all damn day, it’s all percentages. It doesn’t have to be anything. The pitcher doesn’t have to throw you anything. You just have to take what the pitcher gives you and conquer it.” I nodded and headed back to my usual spot. I didn’t realize how much that saying, “The game doesn’t owe you anything,” applied to me. Now, I’m about to spill some stuff about me that I figure I need to get out. A little over a year and a half ago, I was ending a rut in my life that was basically me self-harming and just being depressed in general. I’m assuming a couple of you guys have seen my left arm, but it isn’t too pretty. Since then I’ve been on a slew of antidepressants, sleeping pills, etcetera. I was in therapy, although I stopped going altogether. At the end of my spree of razors and burns I found myself in the “lovely” mental hospital, Vista del Mar, off the avenue. This place is my least favorite place on earth, and didn’t so much help me rehabilitate, however gave me a sense of “Better stop, because no way in hell I’m going back there.” So how does this little story apply to my speech? Well, during that point in time, I figured, “I’ve got scars and burns all over me, I’m not sleeping, I’m isolating my friends, I’m having family issues, life is pretty crappy right now. Eventually life has to be fair.” But that’s the thing. I wasn’t talking about life being fair; I was talking about it being favorable. Some time later (when my coach informed me of the Gambler’s Fallacy), I realized that I was being ridiculous. Life wasn’t against me or for me, however my own actions and the actions of others were. My coach opened my eyes to my new goal that I will personally be chasing. You’ve got to grab life by the horns, so to speak. If I want to eat healthier, I can’t just expect the Cheetos to disappear and the fruit to show up, I have to do it. If I want to be more respectful of people, I have to actively pursue being courteous to others. If I want to work out, I have to do it myself. This year, I was ridiculously lazy. I got pretty bad grades, and of course and the beginning of the year and semester I would say to myself "it'll be better this time." Bullshit. "It" won't be better this time, I'll be better this time. I'm sick of sitting back and letting life go by. For me, personally, it's time to get the fruit. It's time to go to the gym. It's time to get my license. It's about damn time I make my life mine. I’m sick of, in Fitz’s words, compromise. Now I know it makes sense in a history scale, but I’m sick of settling with anything less than what I want.
 * And so, my nerdy friends, go forth into your two months of freedom. Love it. Travel. Adventure. Do what you want to do. Be fierce, my friends. Stop waiting on life to favor you and make that bitch yours. **


 * Cite your sources **