Graduation Speech: Remember Who You Are! :: Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Thirteen years of schooling - can you believe it? And we, County High Class of 2012, have made it! We're graduating! There may have been times when it was tiresome, frustrating, stressful, demanding, even physically, mentally and emotionally draining! Through the years I have felt all of these emotions and more, but one thing that has really kept me on the top has been my ability to smile. I have found that smiling, even when it seems too hard, helps to solve all kinds of problems. Not only does it improve your own attitude, but one smile affects an incredible amount of people. Think about it - if I were to smile at just three people in a day, each of them will probably smile at three people in the least, then those people will pass the smile on, and so on. It's like a contagious epidemic. That's what so intriguing about it! One quote that will always stick out in my mind is from Ms. Marris' "Quotes of the Day." Mort Walker said that "seven days without laughter makes one weak." Since you cannot read this quote, I need to tell you that weak is spelled w-e-a-k; this makes a difference if you were thinking w-e-e-k, because it is a fact that seven days make a week, but seven days without laughter makes you weak. Laughter is captivating - not only does it feel good outside and give stress relief, but there have been proven health benefits from laughter keeping with the old saying that "laughter is the best medicine." So don't be too stressed, find something to smile or laugh about! Don't get offended easily - be the kind of person who won't let another bring them down. Just "kill 'em all with kindness!" I hope that as each of us go our separate ways - whether it be off to college at BYU, UW, Western, Chicago, Boston or ECC, working or jumping into a family, that we will continue to live our lives with values, with integrity. Integrity to me means having the moral courage to do what you know is right. Found in the Holy Bible, Job proclaims: "Till I die, I will not remove mine integrity from me." To the religious and the non-religious alike, this quote can be admired and sought for in ourselves. I have many values and things that I know to be true, and I hope that I can have this integrity of Job to stay strong and true to what I believe - as I hope you all do in your own beliefs and endeavors.