Joanne+Q’s+Final+AmEx+2014+Speech

=Overcoming Obstacles=

There are facts in life that are irrevocable, such as that we all die someday, we can’t survive without air, we can’t read minds, etc. etc. Though in this technological age, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those things were achieved to an extent. One of my favorites is that every living person will encounter obstacles in their life. They can range from the very simple, like trying to climb out of a warm, plush bed at 6 am, to the more serious, like not even having a bed to climb out of, much less a roof to live under. Helen Keller once said, “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”

I believe in two concepts about overcoming obstacles: you can have all the willpower and strength, but no resources, and you can have all the resources, but no willpower or strength. The former is easier to overcome, because I believe that the human spirit is strong, and will find a way to make ends meet. The latter however, is the harder challenge of the two. You can have everything needed to succeed, but it means nothing if your heart is not in it. There are consequences of this every day. Again, it manifests in the little things, like failing a test because someone gave up on studying. Other times it results in a life lost, because someone gave up on living.

Overcoming obstacles is a difficult feat to accomplish. Everyone will hit a low point somewhere in their life, and that’s completely okay. We’re humans. We’re not perfect, our lives aren’t perfect. What matters is how you recover. I feel that so many people are so focused on the problem at hand that they become their own obstacle. But I also understand that everyone reacts differently in different situations, and for many, overcoming seems downright impossible.

However, we must always remember that we don’t have to do it alone. There are always others that will help, support, and inspire us, and if there is no one, find someone, or look harder, because many times those people were already there all along. For me, it is my grandmother.

Before the age of sixteen, my grandmother’s parents married her off to an older, wealthier man twenty-nine years her senior in order to ensure her a better life. From the age of seventeen to thirty-five, she gave birth to eight children. I find these feats alone to be amazing. She never finished school, instead staying at home to take care of her children. She loved each of them equally, and this would be her reply every time my mom asked her which one was her favorite.

After my grandfather died from a stroke, she was left with little to no money, and many mouths to feed. Every morning before sunrise, she would paddle across a river to town, where she would sell fish for money. In addition to this, she ran a small general store, where my father counter productively stole candy from. Despite her hard work, the family still suffered many, many shortcomings, but my grandmother always encouraged my father and his siblings to work hard in order to overcome their poverty. Through their own ingenuity and along with outside help, they all climbed the social ladder and are now living in the U.S as successful adults. My grandmother still lives in the Philippines, successfully running her own fish farm, despite her lack of higher education.

My grandmother started with very little, yet in the end she achieved so much. Her perseverance throughout her life has not only indirectly given me the opportunities I have today, but has inspired me to strive to be my best, and has given me the willpower to overcome any obstacles I encounter (like this speech).

On the other hand (as Geib says), I have another family member who succumbed to their obstacles, and have inspired me not to be like them. My brother is twenty-six. He dropped out of college, still lives at home, and he does not pay rent. He works as a caregiver for minimum wage, and spends the money he earns on Whole Foods, protein shakes, and Nike attire. I know that he tries to take the easy way out sometimes by the ridiculous amount of lottery tickets and scratchers I’ve found lying around. My mother has nagged him for several years now to save his money and go back to school to find a better job, but he always loses his temper and talks back to her. I've tried to talk to him myself, but I rarely see him nowadays and he always brushes me off.

As much as I really, really want to, I can’t completely hate him. Despite the fact that he can be douche bag sometimes, he always took care of me when I was younger. He’s also ridiculously overprotective; he used to wake me up every night whenever he tried to make sure I wasn’t dead in my sleep. I’ve been keeping my door locked ever since.

This Friday (the 13th unfortunately) my parents and I will be flying to the Philippines. There I will thank my grandmother for everything she has done, and eat delicious fish from her farm. My brother refused to come, claiming that he was going back to school. I pray that he’s serious this time, not only for his sake but because I don’t want to be stuck with him again when we’re older. Unfortunately, I’m not cruel enough to completely abandon him.

In the America I wish to grow old in, I want people to accept that they will face obstacles, and to develop the strength and willpower to overcome them. I want others to stop focusing on the desperation of today, but to see the hope of tomorrow. I want people to find inspiration in others, and in turn, inspire others themselves. Thank you.

=Cite Your Sources= Myself