Speech

Es’s speech delivered last night...and the text...

Pressure at school is prevalent; it seems that it’s almost as essential as the actual education itself. It’s like we carry around a ringbinder; with a section in it for pressure from our parents, another for pressure from our teachers and another for pressure from our friends. Each section of the binder grows as we draw closer to exam season and pressure mounts; causing the ringbinder to grow heavier. So it’s no wonder that when things don’t quite go to plan, we don’t only feel as though we’ve let ourselves down, we also feel as though we’ve let other people down.

But in the same way that the notes in your ring binders are there to support you through exams; all of the people that have sections in your pressure ringbinder are there to support you too. There are always notes to help you find the answer to a challenging question and there are always people there to help you through a challenging time.

There’s no denying that not getting the grade that you worked so hard for all year is disappointing and that it can be daunting having to re-evaluate your plans at the last minute when you don’t meet your conditions for the university of your choice. But maybe you weren’t supposed to pass Chemistry, or get into Glasgow University. Maybe life has something else in store for you that you are far better suited to than your original plan. And that’s the beauty of fate; in what seem like moments of absolute, complete disaster it can lead you down this alternative pathway that you’d never have come across otherwise. What initially seems like a failure, can in fact be one of the best things that will ever happen to you because there is no longer a set path for you to follow. With it, comes a multitude of opportunities, through which you’ll meet people and experience things that you’d never have dreamt of if “Plan A” had worked.

But this principle doesn’t just apply to grades; throughout life, copious adversities will present themselves to you; you might not get the exact job or house that you wanted; friends will come and go, relationships will breakdown and in the heat of the moment it seems like life is out to get you and that nothing ever goes to right. But fate always has your back; You will always go through the events that will get you, to where you need to be. The only thing that you need in order to be let fate work, is an open mind.

“A mind is like a parachute, it doesn’t work unless it’s open.” underpins this nicely. In the panic that ensues after you miss a grade or don’t achieve what you had set out to, you can lock yourself away and miss out on opportunities that if you had partaken in them would’ve enriched your mind; or you can take a minute to take in your surroundings and asses where the best place for you to land would be.

You might not always land in the right place on the first try; but if you didn’t take wrong turns in life; how would you know when you’re in the right place?

Grateful for the adult this young woman is becoming.