FALL 2006
Matthew Chung
Class of 2006[The following speech was presented by eighth-grade student Matthew Chung during the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2006.]
Good evening ladies and gentlemen. My name is Matthew Chung and I have been attending Friends School for ten years. That number seems so big, but now that I am at the end of my era, it seems so very small. This place has shaped me and taught me to be true to who I am. The teachers here don't only provide book knowledge, they also provide life lessons.
One of the lessons that I have learned is that one person, no matter how small or insignificant, can change the way things are in a country or in the world. Men like Martin Luther King Jr., Mohandas Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela led movements in our history that could not have succeeded if the people who were part of them did not use their spirit and their strength. If they used violence and weapons to bridge their point across, they would have been destroyed, but they used words. They also used actions like non violent marches and boycotts, not to change they way things were for themselves, but for later generations.
I was taught here that when you see a problem you should not just let it continue, you should rise up and help change the way things are. "If you make yourself more than a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, you become something else entirely." That quote came from Batman Begins, and it has a profound link with what the teachers here taught me.
They taught me that the common, human spirit is much greater than weapons or violence. It cannot be killed and it certainly cannot be brushed aside. That lesson will always hold precedence within me, and if not for the people here I would never have learned it.
Without the staunch and unwavering support of my friends and my family, I would never be the person I am today. These people whom I have known and worked with for months, and most for years, have always pushed me to live up to my potential, and I hope that I have pushed them to live up to theirs. I always have tried to be the best person I can be, but when I fall short of that mark these people who surround me have always reminded me of one thing: The only reason we fall is to pick ourselves up to strive harder the next time. Their support is something I will always remember and I will always cherish. Friends School has given me the support that has allowed me to be without fear of dislike or hatred. The support that I received here has bolstered my own self confidence and has taken me to a new level within myself.
I want to thank each and every person who has believed in me and helped me. I most of all want to thank my family for making the sacrifice to send me here. They have taught me the lessons that, coupled with what I learned here, built my disposition and the image that everyone says is there. I love my family and I know that they will be there for me in the next segment of my life.
I now leave you with a quote from No Man Is an Island. "No matter how ruined man and his world may seem to be, and no matter how terrible man's despair may become, as long as he continues to be a man his very humanity continues to tell him life has a meaning." I did not need to read this book to know that the above statement is true. I knew because I was taught to never give up, to never give in, and to never think that you could survive alone. I wish everyone the best, and hope that we continue to support each other in all facets of our existence.
All good things come to an end, and my time here, my era, must have been the very best. Thank you and good night.
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Last modified:
Sunday, August 20, 2006 at 12:19 AM
