My Speech

In TK we have all been writing speeches for the school speech competition. Our topic was 'Healthy Bodies, Strong Minds'. Mine was about impressing others.

Why We Shouldn't Try So Hard To Impress Others

Welcome to our world; where personality is based on appearance, where some people’s opinions matter more than others’, and beauty is skin deep. We live in a place where nobody can be anybody without being criticised. Where we can’t say, do or even think what we want without others saying it’s ‘lame’ or ‘pathetic’. And why do we do this? Because everyone else isn’t like us. What I’m trying to say, is that we shouldn’t wake up every morning to impress others. We shouldn’t change our personality because that is what others want. And the only person we should be trying to impress, is ourselves.

Imagine we are all the same. We looked the same, wore the same clothes, had the same ideas and the same taste in music. Every house, game, song, sport and shop were exactly the same. That world is boring. That is why we are different. To be interesting, to have a story to tell others without them having heard it before. To live our life the way we want it. But for some reason in our real world, difference is not accepted. We laugh at others for having opinions, we mock them for being themselves, and bully them because they don’t try to be like everyone else.

Honestly it doesn’t matter how attractive the photos on your social media account are. Or the price of your car, or the brand name of your clothing. Because there is always going to be someone out there who doesn’t like you. There is, no matter how hard you try, always going to be a group of people who think you are weird, awkward, or stupid. But no matter how many people hate you, there are also a lot of people who don’t. The people who like you for who you are, and not who you try to be for others. And if we stopped trying to impress those who don’t like us, and just be ourselves for those who do, then people would stop judging us for someone we’re not.

A lot of us have been in that situation where we have changed our opinion for other's’ sake. We tell them we liked something just because they did, and agree with them, even though you don’t. And then later people start bullying you because you try so hard to be like others, and you look stupid doing it. So you decide to gather your courage and share your own opinion. But later, people are laughing at you because you’re so weird and you always try to be different. It doesn’t matter what you do, because people will laugh at you anyway. So you might as well try to be yourself, because it won’t stop the bullying.

So we should stop now and look at ourselves. Are we seeing what we want to see, or what others want to see? Are people judging you on who you are, or what you have? And are the opinions you have really yours, or actually others? So welcome to our world; where personality is based on appearance, where some people’s opinions matter more than others’, and beauty is skin deep. I hope you like what you see.