Senior Banquet Speech

Over the past four years, we've had many experiences, from slipping by that required class with a D to winning the big game. We've watched technology creep into our lives and watched more television commercials than we could possibly calculate with our advanced math skills. We protested the favored status given to football by wearing pajamas to school. We've appeared in television commercials, and showcased our art for the world to see. We've made fools out of ourselves after drinking too much at the party and missed school because of sudden illnesses that have no detectable symptoms. We've registered to vote, and fought for the right to choose and the right to life. We've wondered why our close friends had to die, why cancer had to strike our relatives, and why that driver couldn't have enough compassion to stop for a defenseless puppy. We've been in fights, both verbal and physical. We've spread rumors, and we've gotten that hot date. We've experienced racism, sexism, patriotism, cynicism, and a multitude of other -isms. We've been pulled over, warned, and ticketed. We were in shock after crashing our car, and we took the rap when our friend crashed it. We've died our hair, sagged our pants, tattooed our skin, applied way too much makeup and pierced just about everything we could think of. We've wondered why people are always trying to label us, and we labeled each other. We've experienced new laws aimed at protecting us from ourselves. We've been harassed for skating and made fun of because of our clothes. We've won the debate tournament, played soccer on a scorched field, and fixed up that beautiful old Datsun. We've been bruised, beaten, adored, scorned, loved, hated, kissed, punched, favored, cheated, and we've been confused. Man, have we ever been confused.

Many people look at us and say we don't care about anything, or we're slackers or whiners. Let me tell you, we're not whining, we've been denied too many times to continue whining. We may rant a little bit, but we're entitled to it. I mean, look at what we're getting. It's as if the whole world is handing you torn scraps and shards of this, mangled, ooze dripping pieces of that and saying, "Here you go. It's all yours. Sure it looks a lot worse than what we started out with, but maybe you can do something with it."

Everyone'll react differently to this. Some might consider it the norm and continue on the same route, handing even more crap to their posterity. Some may throw it aside, out the window. "Who cares. It's not my fault. I can't do anything about it." Others might look at all the disgusting, dirty rubbish and decide to make a change. You'll sort it all out, wipe the grime away and refurbish the pieces, or recycle them, or make art out of it all. Still others won't be content with any of that. You're not gonna take it. You'll look at all the slime and sticky scum, and you'll throw it all in a big pile and torch the whole fucking thing. And you'll make sure everyone sees that fire and smells that smoke, and you'll make a lot of people uneasy. They'll say, "There's better ways to go about it," or "You're only doing it for attention, just to rock the boat." But you'll persevere. You'll stand by that fire, heat searing your skin, sweat dripping down your brow, and you'll heave more garbage on it, making it bigger and more spectacular. And to show people that you're not doing it to rock the boat, you'll take that boat and throw it on top of the fire also.

In the film "Pump Up the Volume," a pessimistic Christian Slater tells us that "Being a teenager sucks. That's the point! Surviving it is the whole point." I'm sure we all had friends who didn't make it, be it from senseless violence, automobile accidents, or just a complete loss of hope. But we did. We made it.

Much needs to be done, needs to be changed, needs to be fixed-and we're gonna do it. We're gonna do it with passion. We're gonna do it with personality. We're gonna do it with desire. We're gonna do it with style. And we're gonna do it with mad fire so everyone can see it, smell it, hear it, and feel it.