This is the salutatory speech delivered by Kaitlyn Rash at Rockdale High School graduation Friday:
Before I begin I would like to welcome all of the beloved friends and family who are here tonight, and to the staff welcome back. I know you’ve been to quite a few of these so I’ll be your gentle reminder that this is the class of 2021 and yes there are many more graduations to come. I would like to express a sincere and honest “thank you” to everyone who has supported the senior class during these trying times. This year was far from easy, but thanks to a determined community this year was memorable, so thank you from the senior class and I for ensuring our senior year wasn’t ruined due to unfortunate events.
I have a burning hatred towards clocks. Yes you heard me correctly, out of everything and everyone on this planet, clocks are my number one hatred, and I don’t use the word hate lightly. Growing up my father instilled in me that hate was a bad word and under no circumstances should I ever use the word to describe anything. So why are clocks the one exception to my father’s rule? Well, it’s simple really, clocks give me bad news, they tell me when I’m late yet again, they tell me when an assignment was turned in late, they tell me when my last minutes of softball ended, and they tell me of the last seconds I had with my Pawpaw. Clocks seem to get a kick out of reminding me when times up, every time I experience something, for the very last time, a clock is there to tell me with a sadistic smile on its face.
That’s the issue, time, there is never enough time. It seems that I’m constantly racing against time; especially, when I crave these few remaining minutes as a high-schooler where it’s okay if I make mistakes. I’m not ready for the clock on the wall to tell me that the time has come for my senior year to end. I want to have a few more minutes, no, at least an hour, to see my classmates, I want to see my friends in Calculus class joking around again, I want to see my Biology class be surprised that we somehow passed Coach Tino’s test, I want to email Ms. Cullen, one more time, asking for an extension, I want to sit at my lunch table and pretend that the staff is out to get us because they dress-coded us for having a hole in our jeans in a spot that was too high. I want the time that isn’t available anymore, but the thing is, that everything must come to an end, this part of our journey finally stops.
If I had to offer you any advice, it would be to take my hatred for clocks and use it as a motivation to appreciate time; you see time isn’t the enemy, time is the bitter-sweet nostalgia that lets us remember watching the Polar Express in elementary, the masterpieces we created in Mrs. Fletcher’s art class, the havoc we caused in class, that was amusing to us, but not so much for the teachers, and the power to inspire change by coming together as one during times of injustice.
While it may seem dreadful to some that time is running out, and soon, this will be our last time ever in one area together. Remember this, time isn’t something to hate, time allows us to treasure the remaining minutes we have together. So I ask everyone to look around, and I mean really look around, take a moment to study every face you can see, because I promise you the person you’re looking at has affected your life in some way.
Time is slipping away and there’s absolutely nothing we can do to stop it, so let’s sit back and enjoy the change that is coming within the next hour. Racing against time leads you nowhere and leaves you with a hopeless feeling of never having enough time, and while you’re constantly racing, you fail to appreciate the small joys that time brings.
Only time can tell where we’ll all be in a few years, so Class of 2021, if this is truly our last moments together, then I hope time treats you well and you learn to slow down, just a little bit, so that one day we don’t have to race against time but that we can rather look forward to the changes in our next hour.
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