For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and for these two, their lives have been planned down to a science.
For Wylan Olson, being yourself can be very stressful. Since she was young, her emotions have always been backwards. The e...
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Inhale. Exhale. That's how it feels to breathe, Kwame. Now you just have to remember those steps.
I remembered her words as we sat side by side in matching gowns. Cords of assorted colors hung around our necks. She made an effort to force a smile for me before I went up to the stage. She'd been up and down during graduation ceremony, and I only to be on stage for my speech, addressing my class as their salutatorian.
Inhale. Exhale. I fixated my eyes Wylan, sitting in her chair in the front row. She had her legs crossed and wore an expression of boredom as I began reading. My lips felt chapped, my breath felt short, and my knees felt weak.
"Welcome to the parents, friends, and educators of the Class of 2016, as one half of the representatives of this group I can say honestly, that today is the best day of my life.
Other than not having anymore AP Environmental Science homework to turn in from this point on, I have realized that I am transitioning into a new part of my life.
I'm trading in my locker and security blanket at home to travel into college life, where I can't ask for a second chance or, sadly, a re-grade.
I am aware that, usually, people take this time to speak on the tribulations that they've all endured in high school, and though I was not accustomed to the atrocities usually presented on the big screen, I've endured my share of high school debauchery.
I can say that these last four years have been bringing me to the top of my hypothetical rollercoaster, and I guess it's now time for me to fall. I can say that these four years have taught me things that my parents tried telling me all the while, and I ignored them because what else do you have children for?" I paused for the laughter that confronted me from the four corners of the room.
"I know...I'm hilarious aren't I? Anyways, I digress, but I am here to explain that we as seniors do understand that we as people are like Spock and Kirk. We have bright futures, and everyone knows we should be together. We have greatly enhanced one another, and been the refining tools for one another. We have built on platforms that are bound for greatness.
We are seniors, on the door of adulthood, but in the words of our valedictorian, we are not against the occasional juice box accompanied by naptime, as we are retaining our right to be children. Over the years we have learned to love deeper, laugh louder, and cry harder than we ever thought possible. These are lessons we could have never learned from our Physics textbook, and things we would never see if we stayed locked in this building forever.
Furthermore, I want to thank all the parents and grandparents who have given us a path to graduation. My parents, I can speak definitely, have equipped me to excel, and I am sure that every one of you has done the same.
The fun in life doesn't have to stop here, after this ceremony, after you drag your possessions into your future. People's enjoyment of life doesn't have to die after high school. It can live with greater potential because time is supposed to be short, but really, time is discriminatory. We give time infinite finality as we 'assume that time is a strict progression of cause and effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey...stuff,' that's the beauty of it."
