Respected director, teachers,
parents, and fellow students, with your permission and keen interest I would
like present my thoughts on today’s topic: words have wings; the power of
teenagers’ voice in today’s world.
Honorable director, it all began
with words. Mankind invented language because they felt an acute need to communicate.
And while distinct languages were formed within different civilizations, once
they came into contact, common tongues were born – and common ideas as well. The
progress of mankind we witness and enjoy today is the succession of previous developments,
starting with the power of words and need to communicate.
Respected teachers, the modern world, then, is also standing on the foundations of words and language. What has changed from oral stories, to cave-arts, to tablet writings, to ink on paper – all the way to today’s advanced means of communication, is our more inter-connected world. First books, then the internet, and now YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, these means have been the powerful sources that have, indeed, turned our world into a ‘global village’.
Dear parents, these modern tools of
communication give everyone a vital opportunity: the ability to share their
individual and collective voices. Then let’s see, why it is important and how
should we make good use of it? It is important on the individual level because each
one of us alive always have something valuable to add in mankind’s story. On a
collective level, we should speak because it is how we are recognized,
understood – and included – in the bigger world out there.
My fellow teenagers, I hope that you
have followed my speech so far. I shall now discuss about us, our voices, and
our role in the modern world. We all know that big people like to talk a lot. Politicians,
grandparents, teachers, relatives; but it is seldom that they stop to listen to
us smaller people, as well. Maybe they think we don’t have anything valuable to
say, or maybe they think we don’t have anything to say at all. But they are
wrong.
To the teenagers present here, I shall declare that the big people never ask the right questions. We may not have big ideas in our heads, but we have feelings. We like things, we dislike things, we complain, and we praise. And while our opinions may not seem valuable to their big and noisy heads, they are valuable to us nonetheless. Because smaller people exist alongside bigger people, it is only fair that they should listen to our opinions and take them seriously. And since the future will be handed to over to us, the big ones better listen to us – or perish without fulfilling their duty.
Present listeners, the teenagers of
the modern world have their amplifiers in their hands: their phones. Used with
responsibility, phones have the power to carry our voices to each corner of the
world. Yet we should also be humble and self-aware. The problem with our world
is ‘more voices, not less’. And the many the voices, the more the noise. Therefore,
it is important that we remain honest: honest with our complaints, our disappointments,
and hopes – honest with what we truly want and need. And we should speak only
what we truly mean.
The road to honesty starts with
self-awareness. Therefore fellow teenagers, always be looking inward after looking
outwards, because the important things are always found on the inside. And when
you find that which you value as important, do not hesitate to share it – because
you actually can share it. The modern world gives you this unprecedented freedom.
I shall end my speech with this
humbling remark: with great power comes great responsibility. Your phone is
your great power, your words your responsibility. Only when they equal in
weight, should you use the power.
Thank you!