Being Different (A speech I wrote for school)

It all starts out amazing. You're in your room, staring at your new clothes, your new haircut, you're new you. You think, ‘Yeah. This is it.’ You can't help but feel amazing about this new different style you’ve come up with. You’re going to be different, refreshed. And you’re going to love it. In fact, you do love it…

But the second you step out of your room, that cocoon of safety you’ve created for yourself, it all falls apart. Insecurity settles deep in your gut as you put the new you together for school or work. What will people think? You question yourself, how will they react? Your actions slow down, seemingly, you're no longer excited for people to see the new, different you. And as you continue thinking about what will happen in the course of the day, as more and more people see you, you freeze. Looking into your own eyes in the mirror, you become scared. Scared of the words that will be tossed across tables during lunch, scared of the looks they’ll give you. Scared of the disapproving gazes sent your way from the people so used to the set status quo, and scared to death of what your friends will think of you. Why are you so scared of what other people think? People whose opinions should mean so little to you, yet make such a huge impact on the decisions you make in your life. Why are you afraid of meaningless words?

Because society likes to set a stereotype that they refuse to let change; refuse to believe is not real. Or is it the fact that everything you do, it seems to be wrong? From your family’s outlook on you, to the people that surround you, an impression is set. It seems as if your opinions no longer matters. What your parents dislike, you feel ashamed to wear. What your friends and fellow peers dislike, you fear wearing because you may lose them. Is there no safety in being you? Charles M. Schwab once said, “The hardest struggle of all is to be something different from what the average man is.” I can't explain just how true this quote is! On a daily basis we struggle to be ourselves! To be different then the status quo that we are faced with…and yet, no matter how hard we try, there’s always somebody, or something, that brings us down. They can turn excitement into dread, happiness into sadness, and even confidence into insecurity.

Have you ever regretted changing your clothes in the morning, from the outfit you were so happy about buying, into the raggedy old clothes you’ve owned for a few years, just to avoid the looks people would give you for changing? Have you ever felt the need to be somebody else to feel like you belong? Have you ever been the person to hide in the corners of a class, to avoid stares and laughter that may or may not be appointed to you? Have you ever been scared to be different? I have. I’ve been terrified to walk out of my house, to face the people that I see on a daily basis. Scared to do my hair differently, because when I first changed it people laughed at me and told me I looked stupid. For some reason, words just stick in our heads; words that hurt us never leave.

I remember a rhyme that we were all told when we were little, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” I guess we were somewhat oblivious in our childhoods, huh? When we were completely unaware of the pain that a simple word could bring to us? What about the other rhyme we were taught as children, “I’m rubber, you're glue, whatever you say, bounces off of me, and sticks to you.” Just imagine what it’d be like to never worry about somebody’s words hurting you. For the words that hurt us so deeply, and affect our judgment to just bounce off of us. Or for the words to just, as my mother likes to say to me, “Go through one ear, and right out the other,” as if we’d never even heard it spoken.

People always tell us, “It’s okay to be who you are,” or, “Never change for anybody. No matter what,” ever notice how the very people who say that to us, are the very people who end up causing our insecurities? The people who tell us that we should be who we are, are the same people who sneer at us when we wear something they don't like, the same people who laugh behind our backs when we do something they didn't want us to do, the exact same people who tell us who we are is wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong!

Why can't we be right, just once? Who cares if we’re different? Who cares if our hair is short when it should be long, who cares if instead of wearing those pants that resemble a parachute, we were the pants that are skin tight on our legs? Who cares that we enjoy music that blares in our ears, rather than the soft flows of the music other people enjoy? Who cares! We should be allowed to be who we are! Whenever and wherever! When we leave our rooms, we shouldn’t be subjected to the looks that people, family and friends, and anybody gives us! When we step outside that safety zone we’ve created for ourselves, we should realize, that we don't, in fact, need it! We should be allowed to be happy as we are. Why can't we say to ourselves, “I am who I am.” And feel proud about that fact?

I'm not sure its done...But opinions? It's my Oratory speech.