Speech: A farewell to Grade 12 of 2014

While trying to clear some space and sorting out my files on the laptop I decided to upload a few of my speeches. Perhaps there is still some value in these words.





ODE TO GRADE 12s OF 2014.

Grade 12s of 2014. Before anything else I need to tell you something that I hope you already know. You are brilliant. Seriously, you are absolutely fantastic.

This past year, you’ve been beaten, berated, belittled, you’ve been broke, been lost, been knocked down a couple of times. But you got up. You dusted off the dirt and kept on going. FANTASTIC.

You’ve suffered trials and tribulations, humiliations. You were pulled this way and that. You fought off the deranged, the demented, the dastardly devils keeping you down and crawled through a river of filth coming out clean on the other side. That’s just brilliant.

While you have done so much already, you still have an amazing journey waiting for you, filled with your friends and family that will help you along the way.

But I need you to know that when you travel to the world of adulthood, people will be trying to convince you that you need to choose between left and right. US versus THEM, this way or that way, my way or the HIGHWAY.

Listen closely, I’m telling you now, there is no such thing as a left or right, there is only an UP or DOWN. We can either reach for the heavens and aspire to greatness or fall down into the ant heap of de-feat.

I know what you’re thinking right now. You’re thinking the old man is once again giving simple answers to complex problems. Well, sometimes the answers are simple, they’re not easy…but simple.

I know you have the courage to step out of the dark. To stand clear of the people who doubt you, who drag you down, who stand in your way. When you step out of their shadow you will be incredible.

You cannot wait until tomorrow because tomorrow will always be a day away and if you want to change the future you need to start now. Your time is now, this moment, don’t waste it.  It’s that simple.

And when these hollow men, these empty men, who tell you you’re nothing, nothing special, you’re average, you’re plain when they come to you one day and ask you if you know what time it is. You are going to look them straight in the eye, give a big smile and say “The time is now.”

Life is tough, I know, that’s a given. So to help you on your way I’m going to share with you some life lessons learned. 

1.     The easy way out, doesn’t lead very far.

When you’re faced with difficulties in life, embrace them, savour the moment, soak it in, remembering all the while that you will walk away stronger for it. Tough times don’t last, tough people do.

2.     According to some, life is about getting from point A to point B.

So Matrics, for just a moment I want you to close your eyes and imagine a line going from the start of your life (POINT A) to the end of your life (POINT B). Can you imagine it, can you see the line.

Good.

Now forget it -- because life is nothing like that.

The shortest distance between any two given points might be a straight line. But it is by no means the more interesting route. Way leads on to way. Get lost once in a while, take the road less traveled. Explore different cultures, different beliefs.

People are crazy and times are strange. But if you start to care, things might change.

3.     Anger is always the shortest distance to a mistake.

I won’t tell you to never get angry. Everybody gets angry, sometimes we need that anger. Just don’t let your anger define you. You have do better than that. You need to be better not because they are good people, but because you are.

4.     Do not try and find yourself. Yes you heard right.
If you want to take some time and explore different things, hey…more power to ya brotha. But traveling through distant deeps or skies to try and find yourself is for hippies and losers.

Before you start stoning me, listen.

Sit down one day, take a day and make a decision about who you want to be. Then take the steps you need to take, to become that person.

I want to be more assertive, I want to be the type of person others can come to for help. I want to be the kind of person that makes a difference. Be better children to our parents, better parents to our children. It’s time we stop being sheep and become, more.

5.     A final bit of advice. I got some problems with this last time but here it is nonetheless.

Do not let people tell you the rules. Rules that regulate your lives. Rules that tell you who to be, what to think, what to feel.

Let them tell you the truth if they think they know it,
let them lay down the law if they’re feeling brave,
but never, ever, let them tell you the rules.

In each of you a creature free and not trapped at birth by destiny. You are special. Remember that.

[pause]

For those here who don’t know these mad creatures, let me tell you some things about them.

Let’s start with Cara-Lee. Little loquacious Lee. The talky one standing tall through all the short jokes. Once she gets started it is very difficult to get her to stop. Verbally or in writing she can keep going and going and going.

I tell her she’s late and she spends 10 minutes explaining the complexities of getting facials.

You tell her she looked nice at the farewell dinner and somehow get dragged into 20 minutes of dress ordering, wrong colouring and a plethora of nonsensical ideations.

Cara-Lee, she is short, sharp and can do massive amounts of damage when used right. She is the assegai of Grade 12.

Leandrie. The girl with the voice of broken music. She has a voice of music and her English is broken. I joke of course, it’s not that bad. She does have tendency to implode the space-time continuum and write sentences with past present and future somehow all occurring at once.
She is also the only blond in a class full of dark haired students. So every time I look up my mind starts screaming at me. “One of these things is not like the others.”

Leandrie is very much the central piece that is the grade 12 puzzle. She doesn’t always use her powers for good though and there were one or two incidents where she unleased her inner wolf on some poor and helpless sheep.

Johan, the human typewriter as I like to call him. Didn’t ask him how he feels about that name nor do I care to know. But I kid you not. It’s not enough that he’s stone cold brilliant. He writes like a typewriter. It’s not exactly writing, it’s not exactly typing, it’s wryping. You can just imagine sounds emanating from his pen when he gets started. TITTITITITITITITIT….TING! TITITITITITIT….TING.

He also has an unshakeable belief that all poems were written by William Shakespeare. Doesn’t help if you write the author’s name in Large, Bold, Print you can’t convince him otherwise.

Danielle, this girl is actually two people. The shy, reserved, quiet girl who I struggle to hear day in and day out. I ask her to read. Five minutes later I tell her she can really get started now. Then I get back in a whisper “But I’ve been reading sir.” Then there is the other side. The confident, loud and expressive Danielle, who knows what she wants and goes for it. Throwing around hand signs like she’s directing traffic, especially noticeable when the SPCA man comes round, hey Danielle?

Nicolai. The man who puts down winning silver in online gaming as a sport achievement. Yowzah! Nicolai’s destiny lies in controlling large amounts of people doing his every bidding. Politics may be in his future. Either that or the world’s largest Ponzi scheme. But the two aren’t mutually exclusive. The man has had his own ups and downs, even a few side shuffles. But I now that he is absolutely incredible and the world better start getting its boots on when Nicolai knocks on the door because the times, they are a changin’.

Mauro. The Phantom. Parading in purple around the courtyard, wrapped from top to toe, from head to foot. It’s the stuff of nightmares.

A number of things have been said about Mauro already but I would like to add just one more thing. I just want to say that I think Mauro really is someone that others can look up to. Perhaps the most consistent of the Grade 12’s. Not once have I seen disrespect, bad attitude, or just plain nastiness from this fellow. I have seen nothing but kindness, generosity and an unending willingness to help others. So I just want to say Mauro, thank you, for being Mauro.

Gerson. The slowest, man, alive. Continental drift happens faster than his writing. Taking forever to say nothing. The only thing he seems to be able to do with reasonable speed is to take a nap. Get him away from the desk and onto the soccer field though and he moves with deadly precision making lightning seem slow by comparison.

Helen and Kula since it seems that you can’t have one without the other. Where the one goes the other is sure to follow. If Cara-Lee is the equivalent of an assegai then these two would be more like shoes. More like nine inch stilettos to be precise. Everywhere they go, striding in hypnotic military form, side by side, inspiring awe and fear. Lots of fear. I shudder to think what would happen to any poor fool who would dare cross their path.

Caren, having been chosen for moderation in Windhoek, allowed me the opportunity to get to know her a little. And I am now absolutely convinced that she is quite mad. Oh, she’ll smile and wave and have all her please and thank-yous in order. Do not be fooled by this people. I am warning you. There is danger that lurks beneath the pleasantries. She filters the madness. Letting it out little by little. She’ll have you believe we can’t handle it full on but I say…she’s probably right.

But in seriousness when push turned to shove and it was “go time” Caren stood up and could be counted among those brave enough, not to falter in the face of a challenge.

In preparation for their speeches, though tired, and sore and just plain sick of my face. When I said do it again. I knew I could count on her. So I say thank you Caren for standing up and being counted.

Julian. King Julian, Champ, Jew Lion, Bro Lion, call him what you like - Actually he’s asked me to tell the ladies to please stop calling him. He’s busy enough as it is. Gymnast, World Champion Martial Artist, motivational speaker and role model to the masses saying he’s busy might be an understatement. Sometimes slow on the uptake, especially in chemistry when it comes to the boiling point of Acetone, and humour, at times, drier than the dunes, it has been amazing having him in the Grade 12 class.

Some people feel emotions more deeply and more strongly than others. We need people like those to connect the rest of us to each other. Some people when you look at them their entire personality might as well be stamped on their face. Like it is with Alexa. Intelligence, generosity, kindness and compassion. She has these qualities and no way of hiding them.

Patrick, the German man with the Irish name. No better choice could have been made for Head boy. Patrick has the qualities needed to be great. Strength, Courage, Mastery and Honour. As I’ve said, the year had been tough. It hit some harder than others and while I know that Pat didn’t get all he wanted, I want him to know, that I know, that I have seen, the greatness that is inside of him.

Sometimes you meet someone and they look so interesting, when you actually talk to them they turn out to be dull, as, a, brick. I mean thick. Thickety, thick, thick, from thicksville, thickonia. Sort of like, a rainbow, except all the colours are grey.

And then there are other times, when you meet someone, and  you think, “yea, okay, not bad, interesting enough I suppose.” And then you get to know them, slowly over time, and the way they look, move, speak it so becomes them that you see the absolute uniqueness that they are. Their rainbow starts lighting up with the brightest hues creating colours so unique that sometimes those around them lack the imagination to see all of it.

That uniqueness. That is the Grade 12’s of 2014.

We all change. When you think about it, all of us, we’re all different people all through our lives. And that’s okay, that’s good. As long as you remember all the people that you used to be.

I will not forget one moment of this, not one day. I will always remember when you were our grade 12s. It has been an honour to share part of your journey with you.

What Hamlet said with irony I now say to you with conviction.

What a piece of work is man. How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty. In form, in moving, how express and admirable. In action how like an angel in apprehension how like a god.

Grade 12s of 2014, great beings are forged in fire, it is the privilege of lesser creatures to light that flame.

You have a rendezvous with destiny. Let nothing and no one stand in your way.

The Day is yours.

Your time is now.