logical systems throughout our lives
like everything happens for a reason or
everything has a message but how many of
us have ever really tried to find the
messages in our life I’m not innocent it
took me until about last month to make
sense of anything I’m about to tell you
and maybe that’s because I didn’t think
much of it or maybe that’s because
finding a lesson in your life is harder
than you would think I learned something
that I’m going to carry with me every
day of my life and hopefully I can get
you see the meaning in it too when I
first thought about I wanted to write
this speech I thought it would be a good
idea to talk about a personal time of my
life and as a lesson what better way to
teach you about the messages in your
life than to tell you a real true event
the beauty of writing about a personal
time in your life is that you naturally
present yourself as a real person you
show your human side your vulnerability
I’m going to talk to you about my dad
and specifically what happened which – a
year ago I was watching TV the other day
and I started thinking a lot of the
shows that people used to watch things
like icarly or victorious
they’re all about students around our
age going through situations at home or
with their friends that really affects
their lives
but all those things are going on they
don’t actually talk about them having to
deal with those issues at school they
don’t show them actually having to
switch gears from whatever drama is
going on to now having to worry about
school related subjects I was thinking
about this because in the last year I’ve
been through a lot that didn’t have a
whole lot to do with school yet at the
same time it had every
to do with school I remember very
clearly the day that I had to start
dealing with the fact that my dad is an
alcoholic I remember it because I am
math test the same day have you ever
seen a person go through delirium
tremens that’s what happens when you
suddenly stop drinking you shake
uncontrollably and I watched my dad
shake so bad that you couldn’t even
stick his tongue out of his mouth and I
walked into school after everything that
had happened that morning and I could
not understand how I was supposed to
worry about how you multiply how am I
supposed to concentrate on this test
when I have to go home and face all the
adult problems I remember standing in my
kitchen next to my brother with my dad
in front of us he’d been staying with us
the last few days even though my parents
are divorced and my mom was giving him
two options he could either agree to go
to we have that day or he could call a
cab and kiss goodbye because he was
never going to see us again he called me
at that day all because what he was
dealing with his alcoholism made me feel
the bus like he was choosing it rather
than us Katie McCoy Turek and suddenly
loved my fat slab of food didn’t seem so
important and suddenly all I cared about
was trying to make it look like I did
not just been crying I once heard
someone say you don’t realize how hard
it is to be strong and to being strong
it’s your only option and I never really
thought about the significance of that
hope to letting at the time it felt like
the world was falling down around me
everything was going wrong
have known what to do about it I’d
always rely on a stable at home life and
how all of that was in turmoil I don’t
my dad drank but it got to the point
where sometimes I would turn honeydew’s
and vodka bottles when I went to his
house but now he was staying with us and
I didn’t have a way to get away from it
all well wow I was so caught up in
everything everybody else with lives
just kept going just by looking at me in
the hallway no one could tell us what
burden I was going through you have no
clue what someone might be dealing with
just by looking at them no clue people
always tell you that the things that
happen to you happen for a reason
but it isn’t until you were truly
face-to-face with life shaking
experiences that you understand the ways
that things affect you sure everything
happens for a reason everything has a
message that we’re trusted to carry over
into our lives but no one ever told us
how hard it would be to find the
positivity in that message the silver
lining if you will throughout the whole
process of dealing with my father’s
alcoholism I learned that you should be
nice to everybody because you have no
idea what adults they’re like there’s
that girl with us and a kind in the
middle of class last week and everybody
was picking on her for crying over
whatever did it ever cross your mind
that maybe she has bigger problems that
was most likely the last straw so it
looks to you like an overreaction to her
might be the end of the line there are
real issues facing so many students
every day and it doesn’t even have to be
an alcoholic parent it could be someone
abusive or maybe a family member dying
or they’re being bullied and we could
have it happen
food things are so much bigger than what
should Rand you’re wearing today over
7,000 people every year become homeless
and 40% of those people are children 11
percent of the people in the Brown
County area live in poverty we walk
around and a very protected environment
here in Northeast in Wisconsin we are
increased with things like pain violence
in school but we’ve had people with home
leads every day that have all sorts of
challenges that we don’t know about so
here I was dealing with my father got
the hose and the tailspin that it put in
my family and I realized that all I
wanted that day was someone to be nice
to me after a kid tripped me on the hall
all the way the English no one stopped
out and pick up my books KS costs us
nothing it’s literally the easiest thing
we can do it’s easier than cutting
someone down or avoiding someone at the
lunch table we’ve all seen videos and
articles about people putting kindness
into action I don’t most of us see those
things I think oh yeah that sounds like
a great idea like a school in California
it was a lunch crew and their mission is
to never let anyone sit alone that video
circulated social media and I’m sure a
lot of us thought thought it was great
but how many of us actually those
thoughts we had been watching that into
action I’m not talking about setting up
some elaborate kindness your best school
but I mean don’t get me wrong that would
be pretty cool too we’d all like to
think that were nice and we’re caring
and were the best versions of ourselves
that we can be but how many of us have
ever stopped to really think about how
nice they are
have you ever tried going a day without
saying anything like it is I decided
there would be no point in me standing
up here
think about how the world can cool and
we can put an end to that because let’s
face it that’s pretty cheesy I decided
to put actions behind my work I went one
day without saying anything negative
whatsoever one day that doesn’t sound
too bad right he’d be surprised how many
times you catch yourself being negative
even just ranting about that teacher
that seems have their minds that I’m
making you fail we’re all built up of
negative thoughts and believe it or not
it might be hard for some of us to add
positive fuel to that fire that
shouldn’t stop you life is a complicated
compilation of highs and lows but I’ve
thrown at us in a variety of different
ways the struggle is trying to figure
out how to overcome those obstacles to
reach the goals and dreams that we have
set aside for ourselves every time you
do or say something nice you’re not only
making someone else success a little bit
easier but you’re making things easier
on yourself I’m not telling you about my
personal experience with animosities
that you’ll feel pity for me I don’t
need paid I’m telling you this so that
you understand that even the little
things that you do can make someone’s
day there are going to be some of you
listening to this
we don’t care one bit about what I have
to say and I understand that I only ask
that you hear me out what you do and say
every day has some sort of impact on the
people around you just by me saying that
you’re not going to have this sudden aha
moment right here right now you’re not
going to suddenly understand all the
importance and what I’m telling you
maybe you don’t hit you a two o’clock in
the morning next week or maybe you won’t
understand what I’m telling you until
year from now it took me a year to make
sense of any of this and now look I’m
sharing my message with you so I maybe I
you know I made
the difference today I don’t know what
you’re dealing with right now I don’t
know if you feel like the world is
crumbling down around you or if you feel
like the work here on top of the world I
do know one thing though whatever is
happening to you or to the people around
me it has meaning it has potential and
it has a lesson just waiting to be
discovered
negative thoughts will be the death of
our society as we know it
so until ordinary people like us start
to change that we’re never going to
change
you’d be surprised how much a compliment
and live someone spirit’s kindness is
something that we could talk starting at
a very young age but how many of us have
actually taken that word into
consideration assclown by the kid in the
hall yesterday and who knows what that
stopped them from going home and killing
himself
we’ve been shielded for so long from the
fact that bad things happen and there’s
no stopping that and once we get out of
the real world there’s going to be no
one there to stop those things from
slapping us in the face but no matter
who you are or where you are it’s your
job as a community member to help people
around you right we’re in this together
let’s get through this step by step
[Applause]
like everything happens for a reason or
everything has a message but how many of
us have ever really tried to find the
messages in our life I’m not innocent it
took me until about last month to make
sense of anything I’m about to tell you
and maybe that’s because I didn’t think
much of it or maybe that’s because
finding a lesson in your life is harder
than you would think I learned something
that I’m going to carry with me every
day of my life and hopefully I can get
you see the meaning in it too when I
first thought about I wanted to write
this speech I thought it would be a good
idea to talk about a personal time of my
life and as a lesson what better way to
teach you about the messages in your
life than to tell you a real true event
the beauty of writing about a personal
time in your life is that you naturally
present yourself as a real person you
show your human side your vulnerability
I’m going to talk to you about my dad
and specifically what happened which – a
year ago I was watching TV the other day
and I started thinking a lot of the
shows that people used to watch things
like icarly or victorious
they’re all about students around our
age going through situations at home or
with their friends that really affects
their lives
but all those things are going on they
don’t actually talk about them having to
deal with those issues at school they
don’t show them actually having to
switch gears from whatever drama is
going on to now having to worry about
school related subjects I was thinking
about this because in the last year I’ve
been through a lot that didn’t have a
whole lot to do with school yet at the
same time it had every
to do with school I remember very
clearly the day that I had to start
dealing with the fact that my dad is an
alcoholic I remember it because I am
math test the same day have you ever
seen a person go through delirium
tremens that’s what happens when you
suddenly stop drinking you shake
uncontrollably and I watched my dad
shake so bad that you couldn’t even
stick his tongue out of his mouth and I
walked into school after everything that
had happened that morning and I could
not understand how I was supposed to
worry about how you multiply how am I
supposed to concentrate on this test
when I have to go home and face all the
adult problems I remember standing in my
kitchen next to my brother with my dad
in front of us he’d been staying with us
the last few days even though my parents
are divorced and my mom was giving him
two options he could either agree to go
to we have that day or he could call a
cab and kiss goodbye because he was
never going to see us again he called me
at that day all because what he was
dealing with his alcoholism made me feel
the bus like he was choosing it rather
than us Katie McCoy Turek and suddenly
loved my fat slab of food didn’t seem so
important and suddenly all I cared about
was trying to make it look like I did
not just been crying I once heard
someone say you don’t realize how hard
it is to be strong and to being strong
it’s your only option and I never really
thought about the significance of that
hope to letting at the time it felt like
the world was falling down around me
everything was going wrong
have known what to do about it I’d
always rely on a stable at home life and
how all of that was in turmoil I don’t
my dad drank but it got to the point
where sometimes I would turn honeydew’s
and vodka bottles when I went to his
house but now he was staying with us and
I didn’t have a way to get away from it
all well wow I was so caught up in
everything everybody else with lives
just kept going just by looking at me in
the hallway no one could tell us what
burden I was going through you have no
clue what someone might be dealing with
just by looking at them no clue people
always tell you that the things that
happen to you happen for a reason
but it isn’t until you were truly
face-to-face with life shaking
experiences that you understand the ways
that things affect you sure everything
happens for a reason everything has a
message that we’re trusted to carry over
into our lives but no one ever told us
how hard it would be to find the
positivity in that message the silver
lining if you will throughout the whole
process of dealing with my father’s
alcoholism I learned that you should be
nice to everybody because you have no
idea what adults they’re like there’s
that girl with us and a kind in the
middle of class last week and everybody
was picking on her for crying over
whatever did it ever cross your mind
that maybe she has bigger problems that
was most likely the last straw so it
looks to you like an overreaction to her
might be the end of the line there are
real issues facing so many students
every day and it doesn’t even have to be
an alcoholic parent it could be someone
abusive or maybe a family member dying
or they’re being bullied and we could
have it happen
food things are so much bigger than what
should Rand you’re wearing today over
7,000 people every year become homeless
and 40% of those people are children 11
percent of the people in the Brown
County area live in poverty we walk
around and a very protected environment
here in Northeast in Wisconsin we are
increased with things like pain violence
in school but we’ve had people with home
leads every day that have all sorts of
challenges that we don’t know about so
here I was dealing with my father got
the hose and the tailspin that it put in
my family and I realized that all I
wanted that day was someone to be nice
to me after a kid tripped me on the hall
all the way the English no one stopped
out and pick up my books KS costs us
nothing it’s literally the easiest thing
we can do it’s easier than cutting
someone down or avoiding someone at the
lunch table we’ve all seen videos and
articles about people putting kindness
into action I don’t most of us see those
things I think oh yeah that sounds like
a great idea like a school in California
it was a lunch crew and their mission is
to never let anyone sit alone that video
circulated social media and I’m sure a
lot of us thought thought it was great
but how many of us actually those
thoughts we had been watching that into
action I’m not talking about setting up
some elaborate kindness your best school
but I mean don’t get me wrong that would
be pretty cool too we’d all like to
think that were nice and we’re caring
and were the best versions of ourselves
that we can be but how many of us have
ever stopped to really think about how
nice they are
have you ever tried going a day without
saying anything like it is I decided
there would be no point in me standing
up here
think about how the world can cool and
we can put an end to that because let’s
face it that’s pretty cheesy I decided
to put actions behind my work I went one
day without saying anything negative
whatsoever one day that doesn’t sound
too bad right he’d be surprised how many
times you catch yourself being negative
even just ranting about that teacher
that seems have their minds that I’m
making you fail we’re all built up of
negative thoughts and believe it or not
it might be hard for some of us to add
positive fuel to that fire that
shouldn’t stop you life is a complicated
compilation of highs and lows but I’ve
thrown at us in a variety of different
ways the struggle is trying to figure
out how to overcome those obstacles to
reach the goals and dreams that we have
set aside for ourselves every time you
do or say something nice you’re not only
making someone else success a little bit
easier but you’re making things easier
on yourself I’m not telling you about my
personal experience with animosities
that you’ll feel pity for me I don’t
need paid I’m telling you this so that
you understand that even the little
things that you do can make someone’s
day there are going to be some of you
listening to this
we don’t care one bit about what I have
to say and I understand that I only ask
that you hear me out what you do and say
every day has some sort of impact on the
people around you just by me saying that
you’re not going to have this sudden aha
moment right here right now you’re not
going to suddenly understand all the
importance and what I’m telling you
maybe you don’t hit you a two o’clock in
the morning next week or maybe you won’t
understand what I’m telling you until
year from now it took me a year to make
sense of any of this and now look I’m
sharing my message with you so I maybe I
you know I made
the difference today I don’t know what
you’re dealing with right now I don’t
know if you feel like the world is
crumbling down around you or if you feel
like the work here on top of the world I
do know one thing though whatever is
happening to you or to the people around
me it has meaning it has potential and
it has a lesson just waiting to be
discovered
negative thoughts will be the death of
our society as we know it
so until ordinary people like us start
to change that we’re never going to
change
you’d be surprised how much a compliment
and live someone spirit’s kindness is
something that we could talk starting at
a very young age but how many of us have
actually taken that word into
consideration assclown by the kid in the
hall yesterday and who knows what that
stopped them from going home and killing
himself
we’ve been shielded for so long from the
fact that bad things happen and there’s
no stopping that and once we get out of
the real world there’s going to be no
one there to stop those things from
slapping us in the face but no matter
who you are or where you are it’s your
job as a community member to help people
around you right we’re in this together
let’s get through this step by step
[Applause]
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