Daniella pretorius and there are two
things which I fear more than death
getting old and mediocrity at this point
people usually start rolling their eyes
and comment on how cynical the youth of
today is however I am here today is
supported by fact well somewhat fact to
present why the sorry to present why
human nature almost rivals the very idea
of aging or averageness getting old
sucks in case you haven’t noticed I’m
not old so accept this as a passive
observation from the cynical youth if
you so wish one of most awful things
about aging is the loneliness that
always seems to follow it you are
leftover fragments of your own
generation awkwardly stuff decide by
today’s quick-moving society this
loneliness and exclusion from society
leads to a very bitter coating on the
elderly indeed but I forgot to mention
you only end up the bitter elderly
person living across the street the one
that children so rarely cross if you let
yourself as is everything in life you
have control over your own emotions and
your own path you can choose to be
friendless and isolated from the rest of
the world or you can choose to integrate
and either fulfilling second half of
your life tooth you choose the latter to
me no matter how much it needs to happen
and how vital it is to life on Earth
aging will always be an unnatural
process your mind and body decays
simultaneously sometimes leaving a
burden on your family and others around
you there’s something so fragile with
age knowing that you’re just looking at
the reflection of a human being the
leftover of someone’s prime 10 20 30
years ago now that is truly tragic
someone who has really been through all
of life’s so-called milestones
graduating school
your first job getting married having
kids nauseatingly wholesome I know as
you grow old you begin to live your life
through others you take a backseat in
your own life in order to give priority
to those who have come after you at the
end of the day the only fault which
arises through this is throwing
selfishness after all in the forest
there’s not enough sunlight for all to
thrive thus large trees must fall I grow
tired some of the social taboo not to
mention age not to mention the pain
suffering that age can bring a good
board of the need to conform to the
political correctness to mention age
other than to spew out glowing
motivational chitchat we have created a
carpet of eggshells of which we
continually struggle to walk around all
because we are too afraid of what might
come just because you’re different does
not necessarily mean that you are useful
or special my favorite analogy for this
is that not everyone can be a special
snowflake as if everyone is special then
is anyone really special there’s been a
mentality on the rise especially but
understandably fed two young children
that they are unique and different from
the rest of the seven billion people on
earth they are inherently better and
above everyone else sure everyone wants
to believe that their quirkiness traits
or appearance is a beam of individualism
well it doesn’t it’s unfortunate to
think that for most what makes you you
really just results in averageness
averageness we automatically linked
being average to boringness and living a
dull life this is also truly terrifying
as we despise being average in fact most
would rather live an incredibly
unfortunate life rather than an average
one as the unfortunate life will still
be somewhat more spectacular we need
things to happen the quicker the better
constantly filling our lives with events
no matter what the nature of those
events are what makes averages even
worse is the inability to see just how
average you are complacency the biggest
mistake you could ever make in your life
is to be
place and now don’t get me wrong you’re
not being complacent does not equate to
you being greedy nor does it mean that
you’re not satisfied but by being
complacent you immediately cut off any
goals to work towards you lose drive and
direction and without driving direction
there really is no point to life well
where I sorry I just like the overused
cliché of being alive and not living so
I won’t use it but ladies and gentlemen
I will say that we cannot afford to
drift the way though of which we value
ourselves has only begun to increase
exponentially we live in a competitive
world there will always be someone
smarter someone who’s trained harder and
someone who will unforgivingly replace
you our perspective on what human beings
are able to do has only just begun to
borden I’m here today in front of all of
you with a requirement that I must
spread an idea I’m not here to convince
you to change your life nor am I here to
tell you that you’re living your life
wrong in the first place that is all
down to perspective which I’ve talked
about today or our fears which everyone
will experience in varying degrees you
may agree with what I have to say or you
mind not and frankly that does not
affect the topics at hand at this point
in the speech most people add in a wall
suited to quote and end on a clean slate
I just want to say that fate is in your
hands mediocrity my sorry getting old
might be inevitable but mediocrity might
not be so don’t succumb to the darkness of our human thanks