My Graduation Speech
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
بما إني قربت أدخل مرحلة جديدة في حياتي الدراسة ، حبيت
أشارككم كلماتي التوديعية لمرحلة دراسية عشت فيها 12 سنة. وذي ال12 سنة ما كانوا سهلات ، بس علموني كثير. الخطبة بالانجليزي ولا أبغى اترجمها لأنه محا تطلع أبد بالشكل إلي أبغاه أو بالمعنى إلي أبغاه غير باللغة إلي أنا كتبتها فيها وإلي قصدتها فيها. قلتها في حفلة تخرجي وتقدرون تقولون إنها لحظة كنت انتظرها لفترة طويلة. كنت أعدل كثير وأمسح كثير إلين ما توكلت على ربي وطلعت بإلي طلعت به.
اتمنى إنكم تستمتعون بقراءتها، وشاركوني آرائكم في التعليقات.
This is a speech I wrote to give on my graduation day, I've written a mini Arabic introduction explaining this but for English readers.. You'll get it through the speech. Share your thoughts with me in the comments :) happy reading.
“It
matters not what someone is born, but what they grow up to be” –Albus
Dumbledore
I have had a
lot of words prepared for me to say in this very moment, but I realise the
intensity of my position will require me to read from this paper. As
spontaneous as I wanted to sound to a more structured speech, I think if my
nerves didn’t require this crutch of a paper, the school will make me.
Oh god, this
seems so surreal. It feels almost dreamlike to witness how far the girls and I
have come, we reached the end of the 12-year prequel of the rest of our lives.
And for me to feel this mixture of bewilderment and overcoming shock to see
myself where I am is best described to be morbidly triumphant.
At this point
you probably either have no idea what I’m saying or are itching to know more, I
hope what I’m about to say fills both holes, in the form I know best, a book
review. A review of my prequel.
This’ll sound
cheesy but bear with me, growing up I always knew I was different. I’m sure we
all felt this way at some point, because aren’t we all a little bit alien? But
yes, I did feel more distinct if you will. I have been told to drop that
mindset, that I’m not really as different as I make myself to be, that fitting
in was my best bet. The reality of the situation was that I was, I mean how can
someone who is compared to both The Boy who Lived and an infamous fictional
detective be as similar as the next student who is probably as different as she
is. Her own mixture of fiction and reality. Isn’t that idea beautiful?
There’s of
course the cliché bullying, abuse, pick your poison of a word. My honey was
laced with cyanide by both students and teachers. I lost my purpose, or forgot
it to be more accurate. I was plunged into a spiral of grief, sin, torture,
pain, and darkness. And I guiltily played both parts in this academic play, and
I apologise for that little number.
Though many
don’t realise that the same source of that pain, those same sharpened knives in
my back are the god-granted I’ve gained the courage and confidence I have
now. Because now I can pull them out and
not be afraid to see my blood.
Those hours
spent in the gloom made me realise how much one can do with their life, how
valuable each one of our voices is, how essential it is to leave our mark on
this fleeting universe, and how crucial keeping our faith is, for without it
our lives are meaningless.
Every breath
you take, every morning you wake up is a god-given chance that I encourage you
not to waste.
The people I
encountered through this are compiled in an imaginary list in my head, a list
which I appropriately call my family. For each one of you listening to this,
and each one I wish would read this or listen to it has tremendously affected
my life, through an exchange of words that was never repeated or continuous
support that I do not know how to thank. Thank you, from the bottom of my tiny
heart you do not know the extent of my gratitude to you. I wish I can tell each
one of you by name, but we’ve been here for far too long already.
But I’d
specifically like to take this moment to thank my mother, who is sitting
somewhere here. The English vocabulary fails to offer words worthy of you. For
I do not know who I would be without you.
And father, I
wish you could’ve been here. But heaven is so much better. I am truly sorry for
the lost time, but what would an apology do now that its too late. For my
mentor has left and I’m left with the lessons, lessons I’ll forever cherish.
I’d like to
end this with a few words to anyone of you who feels or thinks that where I am
is a mere dream, a target whose bullseye you seem to never hit:
According
to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should fly, its wings are too
small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee of course, flies
anyway because bees don’t care what humans think is impossible.
So be a bee and fly despite all the odds
against you.
-Sarah
2017 High School Graduate
خريجة ثانوية عامة 1438 هـ
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