In their Senior Two year, those in Grade 12 who have something to say to their peers are given an opportunity to speak in Chapel. The process is simple: submit a concept and cross your fingers :) Cannon Lennox along with a few faculty members are the selection committee and they chose Claire's idea!
I am so incredibly proud of my girl.
The idea? WE ARE ENOUGH.
It's nice to know she's been paying attention. She managed to combine together ideas from Maya Angelou, Babe Ruth, One Direction and Brené Brown and gave a wonderful speech. Along with my children, her father, my nephew and my dad we sat in the Appleby Chapel and listened.
Shared with permission:
I believe I am enough. I believe that you are enough too, even if you may not think so. We all have our own unique gifts and characteristics that make us all good enough. In order to maintain a life of meaning and goodness, this concept of being enough is one of the key ingredients to creating a life of generosity and kindness. Part of kindness is acceptance and non-judgment.
This is my sixth year here at Appleby, and I have been the recipient of much generosity and kindness. I would like to be able to encourage the same for every person within our Appleby community. Everyone should be made to feel like they belong.
Why? Simple. Because we are all enough.
Good morning faculty, fellow students, and most importantly, my family. I’m here to tell you my thoughts on acceptance and why we are all enough.
It’s funny. I have been thinking about this moment since I attended my very first Chapel Speech given by our Middle School Prefect, Veronica, back when I was in Middle One. I’ve thought about whether I’m going to need the block to stand on, who would be here to listen, whether my hymn would be Draw the Circle Wide or not, and if I’d be able to think about something worth-while to talk to you all about. Standing here before you all means a lot to me and I am excited to say that I believe that this topic that I have been building upon for six years is definitely worthwhile. I hope you think so too.
Accepting others is a huge part of living a life of goodness. A life of kindness.So many people have gone through things that most of us cannot even begin to fathom happening to ourselves. Scottish author and faithful theologian, Ian Maclaren once said, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” The more in life I experience, the wiser and more inspiring these words become.
Sometimes I witness such cruelty and mean-spiritedness that I have to stop and wonder what creates that kind of anger in the person inflicting this pain.
I have come to realize that they may not believe that they are enough, but the fact is that we are all enough.
“Live your life like everything you do will be printed on the front page of the Oakville Beaver.” For those of you who may not know, the Oakville Beaver is our local newspaper. My mum always said this to my siblings and me as a way of teaching us to be aware of our words and actions and how they affect people. Next time you express a falsehood or make fun of someone for anything from their personal likes and dislikes to their sexuality/race, and everything in between, would you reconsider if you knew your words or actions would be emblazoned on the front page of your local paper?
A friend of mine once told me that it’s so much more effort to be mean than to be nice, so why be mean? Why be cruel to others, especially if they don’t deserve it? The affect that cruelty has applies to two people: the victim and the offender, and the effects are long-term. The sadness and guilt builds up inside us and puts an enormous amount of weight on our shoulders.
Some of you may be laughing to yourselves right now or giggling with the person next to you because you know very well that I have had my fair share of judgmental words and have been mean spirited at times. Through those experiences, I have learned that all of that cruelty and meanness stems from a place of extreme belief that I am not good enough.
I am no saint and I am not here to lecture you all about the things you have done wrong.
I’m here to empathize and say that I’ve been through that too. Empathy, that’s another good thing to do when accepting others. When someone you know is struggling, try to think of some way that you can go to them and say “Me too."
Dr. Maya Angelou is an accomplished American author, poet, playwright, civil rights activist, and has over thirty honourary doctorates. She is one of the most fascinating and influential people of our time, in my opinion, and I was fortunate enough to be a member of the audience at her lecture in Minneapolis, Minnesota earlier in October.
One of the main concepts she talked about was that of Rainbows and Clouds.
You have a choice.
You can be a big, dark cloud like the one that follows Eeyore around all the time, making him and everyone else miserable, or you can be a light and fabulous rainbow of kindness and acceptance, bringing joy and hope to everyone who sees you. Err on kindness and bring lightness into people’s lives because light will last forever, but the darkness will not. Even in the dreariest of times, if there’s a rainbow in the clouds, there is hope, and each one of us has the opportunity to be a rainbow in someone’s clouds. You also have to realize that you have rainbows in your own clouds that will help you get through any storm.
Even an unfortunate donkey like Eeyore has rainbows in his clouds, just like you and me.
A couple weeks ago, after I was accepted to make this speech, I was going through some things that made me feel like a disappointment to myself and to my family. I kept telling myself that I wasn’t enough, that I would never be enough.
That was hard.
It’s so easy to slip into the mindset of thinking that you’re not enough; that you’re just okay. I began telling myself and believing something very important, and I want you all to believe it too: “You’re not just okay, you are FINE.” That’s another one of the many things that Dr. Angelou taught us. Every once in a while, when you’re feeling down, I want you to say that to yourself. “You’re not just okay, you are fine.” As in “mighty fine”, with a bit of swagger.
We are all human. We each have our own personal flaws and strengths, our own imperfections and successes, but those are what make us who we are. The parts of you that make you human are the same parts that make you enough. This includes being vulnerable. Brené Brown, a shame researcher and best-selling author said in one of her TED Talks that “vulnerability is not weakness”; that “vulnerability is our most accurate measure of courage.”
In the same talk, she says “There is nothing more daring than showing up, putting ourselves out there, and letting ourselves be seen.” The connection between this and courage is clear – if you’re willing to let everyone see you for everything that you are and make yourself vulnerable, that is the most courageous thing you can do. The key to happiness and living a life of goodness is to stop striving to be perfect, just embrace that you are enough. One Direction says it best, “Being the way you are is enough.”
Most of you who know me also know that I am in love with sports - namely the amazing game of baseball. I’ve been playing since I was 5 years old, starting with softball but getting tired of it and switching to hard ball, and eventually gained enough talent and experience to play with Team Ontario for two years. After learning a lot more about the history of the sport and continuous viewing of The Sandlot, my favourite baseball movie of all time, I began to idolize a great major league player named Babe Ruth. He played in the major leagues for 22 years and set records for home runs, RBIs and slugging percentage, for strikes and strike outs and was among the first few players to be honoured in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. I wanted to be just like him and totally dominate the major leagues, despite my gender. I completely believed I could, too. I believed that someday, I would be good enough to play on the Boston Red Sox. The first female Major Leaguer ever. Now my goals are set more realistically. I’ll start with a university team and see where that takes me.
Regardless, Babe Ruth also said one thing that really resonated with me: “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” This may be a baseball quote, but it can be applied to anything. When I first thought of what to write for this speech, I immediately thought of this quote, but with my own interpretations.
What I thought was to never let the fear of not being good enough keep you from being yourself, because you are good enough in everything you do, and don’t let anyone make you think otherwise.
Believing this is not an easy practise and to accomplish it does require regular practice, but just keep telling yourself that you are enough and you will believe it. Dr. Brené Brown once said “I now see how owning our story, and loving ourselves through that process, is the bravest thing that we will ever do.”
So, from me to you, let me end by saying:
Be kind. Be vulnerable. Be yourself, and love yourself because you are enough. We are all enough.
Now would you all please stand and sing hymn 572 – Let There Be Light
Wow.
THAT was amazing. My Claire, at sixteen, is amazing. Look out world, here she comes, and she is more than enough.
If you're interested in hearing the speech, it has been posted on You Tube - you'll want to start at 3:50.
