CLASS CO-SPEAKER RENIFF HERNDON

Good morning/afternoon

I tried so hard to make sure that my grades were just at the right spot so I could get into college, but not have to give a speech at graduation. But yet here I am doing just that, and it is all Aeshely's fault. She just had to convince people to vote for me as one of the class speakers. As with many people, I do not do well with public speaking so bare with me.

To start us off, I need everyone to understand the theory of the multiverse. Any marvel fans out there know what I'm talking about, but if you don't then I'll try and explain it real quick. Just know that I barely understand myself. The theory of the multiverse is the idea that there are other universes similar to ours but with a slight change. This change can be as big as if the British had won the Revolutionary war, of if there was no color, and everything was black and white, or worst of all cell phones were never invented. I can't even think about it. Or some smaller changes like your family living somewhere else, taking different classes, having different friends. The variations are endless, as are the other universes. Making sense so far? Good.

Now with that in mind I want you to think about all the things that led you to this very moment. All the choices that you've made throughout your life, good or bad, smart or dumb. Staying up late and watching that next episode of Criminal Minds, procrastinating your homework off till the last second (something I've done way too many times) or deciding what clothes to wear that day. All of these had an impact on where we are right now. Now we can sit here and think over all of these thoughts, wondering what we could have done differently. Wondering about all the other universes out there where we might have chosen to do something differently. Or we could instead think about all the future choices we will make and where those will lead us.

One day in second grade I was arguing with my teacher, trying to convince her to let us get out of an assignment. Saying things like "what if someone steals my homework before I can turn it in?" Or "what if I forget how to write, then what?" After which she stood up, and cleared her throat getting ready to address the class.

Confident that I must have just won because my argument was full proof and she was going to tell the class we weren't doing the homework. Instead she turned and looked right at me asking "Reniff what if pigs could fly?" Confused at the random question I just sat there looking at her, then answering her own question before I could respond she said "then there would be flying pigs." At the time I didn't think much about this, just thought it was kind of weird. But now I can see that the point my teacher was trying to make was that we need to focus on the now, not all the What Ifs. We'll deal with those when the time comes. Constantly thinking about all the different possibilities, or the other universes, does us no good. But if we pay attention to the present we can get the most out of it. We don't get back the time we've used, so why spend the precious time we have worrying about it? We already have enough to worry about already. You may have heard the saying that our choices define us, but the great thing is that you can always make new choices.

To end my speech I'm going to quote one of the most inspirational graduation speeches I've ever heard, probably of all time. Given by just a truly amazing person, Alex Russo, and her words of wisdom that are just "Later losers."