Post by Henry Spearman on Jun 12, 2016 9:15:12 GMT -5
Henrys nerves grew as he pulled his robe on over his head. Four years of hard work were paying off and he was bound for college far away from home. He was filled with a deep sense of pride in all that he had accomplished to this point in high school. National honor society, 4.0 GPA, president of the helping hands club.
He was proud of all of his accomplishments, specifically the helping hands club which he had founded to give aid to single mothers around the country. This day was the culmination of all of that. Today he would walk across the stage and graduate at the top of his class. He would be recognized by his peers and by members of the faculty for all of his accomplishments.
Henry didn’t need the recognition of his peers, though it was nice to finally be above them. Instead, he was grateful that his mother would be here to see him. She always worked and had a difficult time getting time off. Henry understood, and while it hurt him that his mother had missed many things in his life, he was thankful to her. He was filled with immense pride in who she was and he was happy that she was able to attend, though he knew that financially she probably shouldn’t have.
“Ladies and gentleman, the graduating class of Stonewall Jackson High School”
Henry led his class out from behind the curtain and into the packed auditorium. The crowd of family and friends who had gathered stood and clapped. Excited younger siblings jumped up and down and pointed and waved to their brothers and sisters. Henry tried his best to look formal but he couldn’t help but smile. He could feel the eyes of the crowd on him as he walked in front of his peers with his head held high. He couldn’t help but feel like this must be what Hulk Hogan or the Macho Man would have felt like entering the grandest stage of them all. He liked the feeling.
Henrys classmates filed into their seats in the front 5 rows as henry continued up onto the stage and took his seat. Looking out over the crowd he realized that his nerves had completely calmed. It dawned on him that surprisingly, he enjoyed this. He enjoyed being on the stage in front of hundreds of people. He finally felt comfortable.
“Thank you all for attending this great day in the lives of these young men. It is a great honor for me to have been principal here for the entire duration of this classes tenure. I have watched them grow and develop into the men you see here today. Please join me in a round of applause in honor of their special day today.”
The crowd erupted into applause once again. In a few moments the applause died down and the principal spoke again.
“It gives me great joy to introduce to you this year’s valedictorian, Henry Neforian”
Henry rose to his feet as his name was called and walked across the stage to the sound of applause from the people in attendance. He shook the principals hand and took his spot behind the podium. Adjusting the microphone up a bit (he had grown quite a bit and now stood over six feet tall) he looked out over the crowd.
“Friends, Family, Faculty, Peers. It is a great honor for me to stand here before you as valedictorian. We have all been through so much in our four years here at this school. We have all grown and we have all changed. We have grown up. We have become men and women. We have become adults.”
Henry paused for a moment before continuing
“As I sat in my room for the last month and a half trying to come up with ideas for a graduation speech I realized a few things. First and foremost I realized that I was terrible at coming up with ideas for graduation speeches.”
The crowd laughed as Henry smiled
“But the biggest thing I realized was something that occurred to me late in the afternoon yesterday as I finished writing my speech. I suddenly realized that everything I had written down meant nothing to me. I realized that the speech I had worked long and hard at was in fact, nothing at all what I had hoped to convey and nothing at all what I imagined myself saying to my classmates if I ever had the chance.”
“So I threw it away….”
“I threw the speech into the trash and I sat down at my desk and wrote for an hour. I didn’t worry about saying all the usual clichés. I didn’t worry about pointing out who our favorite teachers were and I didn’t worry about touching on all the subjects that get beaten into submission every year.”
“Instead, I wrote from the heart…”
“I spilled out onto paper and breathed life into the one thing I knew I wanted to speak on more than anything. Acceptance”
Henry paused and the room stood eerily silent. He felt a measure of pride that he had captivated his audience into silence. He could feel them lean in to hear what he had to say.
“As we grow and develop into men and women I feel it is important that we never lose sight of the fact that while we may have different interests, different hobbies, different career choices, different attitudes, we all share one common desire and that is to be accepted by our peers.”
“A man named Steve Goodier once said,
“All of us sport an invisible sign around our necks -- “AS IS.” It means, take me as I am. I may not become what you want me to be. And I’m far, far from perfect. But I have some great qualities, too, as well as my share of faults. You will have to take me “AS IS” and I’ll take you that way, too.”
“I find this quote to be beautiful and telling of who we are as people. We are all different and we all come from different walks of life. We all come just as we are and each and every one of us is made exactly the way we are intended. True acceptance is found within that knowledge.”
“True acceptance of our peers is in fact, acceptance of the knowledge that we are all perfect in ourselves. That we all have value. That we all bring qualities to the table that can and should be recognized by others as integral parts of the way our society functions.”
“I look out across the crowd today and I see a sea of faces looking back at me. I see the faces of people who have befriended me at times when I needed them and I see faces of those who have made me feel not good enough.”
“My four years here have been difficult. I sometimes wonder if they would have been easier if perhaps I was a bit more popular. Maybe if I could just throw the football things would have been easier for me. That is not who I am though. My peace lies within the acceptance of myself just the way I am and in my acceptance of each and every one of you just the way you are.”
“As we move on to the next phase of our lives, for some it is college, for others the work force. I beg you all. Please take the time to look into the eyes of the people you talk to. Take the initiative to get to know the person behind those eyes. Take a small moment out of your own lives to ask someone else about theirs. You may find that in opening those doors and accepting others into your own life that you are unknowingly saving theirs.”
“After today I will likely never see the majority of you again and so I would like to leave you with one final thought”
“When the day comes that you feel you just cannot carry on, and that day WILL come, look back and remember me standing in front of you today. Remember a boy who struggled to make friends. Who struggled to meet people and who struggled to fit in. Remember the constant struggle that his life must have been. Remember how he powered through it all and fought his way to the top of his class. Then I want you to remember what he said when he closed his speech. When he stood before you and said…..
“I appreciate what you have done for me. You have allowed me to find strength inside myself. You have given me the opportunity to dig deep inside myself and pull out a strength that I didn’t know existed and I will be forever in your debt”
“Thank you to my classmates, thank you to my teachers, and thank you to my mother who has always been the glue that kept me together. I love you all. God Bless”
Henry walked off the stage as the crowd erupted into applause. He was able to catch a glimpse at his mother whose face was wet with tears as she stood and clapped.
An hour later Henry exited the auditorium looking for his mother. He found her waiting outside and she hugged him when she saw him.
“What an incredible speech honey. It was incredibly courageous. Im glad you spoke from the heart”
“I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I hadn’t been honest”
Henrys mother smiled and the two of them walked towards the car.
“HEY HENRY! GREAT SPEECH!!”
Henry turned to see who was complimenting him and was hit directly in the chest with a strawberry milkshake. He looked down to see the pink liquid covering his white button down shirt. His mother was stunned. A car full of henrys classmates sped away and Henry could hear them laughing as they left the parking lot. He looked across the car to his mother who didn’t know what to say.
“Come on, lets get out of here. Im glad this is all over” He said and the two of them climbed into the car
Henrys mother started it up and they drove off out of the parking lot.
__________________________________________________
We open to a city street lit only by the streetlights and the occasional headlights of a passing car. Rain falls constant and steady, glistening in the glow of the street lights. A siren in the distance breaks the silence. Suddenly footsteps can be heard walking quickly across the pavement. A pair of boots enters the camera view and the camera pans back to reveal a hooded figure with a ski mask on. He walks up to a store front and pulls a crowbar out from his backpack. The camera pans back and the front comes into view.
“Bank of WCF”
The masked man talks to himself. He is barely understandable.
“Its payday big guy, this place is just full of cash”
The masked man places the crowbar in the door and pries….
Nothing. Not even a budge.
The masked man tries again but still gets nowhere. He shrugs his shoulders and smashed the window with his crowbar. The window explodes into a million pieces and the alarm goes off.
“Damn, I guess I didn’t account for not being strong enough to get the door open. Gotta be quick now” The masked man said.
He runs inside and finds the vaults. He places his bag down and starts pulling things out of it.
“Hammer? No that wont work.”
“Mettalica sweatshirt? No”
“Rubber chicken? Definitiely not”
“Ohhh my Pete Rose baseball card, I was looking for that. Wont help me here though”
“Latest edition of ESPN the body issue? No”
“God damn why did I bring this stuff? How did I expect to get in the vault with a rubber chicken and a Pete Rose baseball card?”
Panicking now, the masked man stands up and runs to the front desk area. He opens all the cashiers registers but they are empty of course. He runs back out to the lobby and looks around. He is frantic now. He runs over to the waiting area.
“Fuck it”
He runs over to the front desk and starts shoving lolly pops into his backpack.
“This will do I guess. Not like ive ever gotten anything else from this company”
The camera spins around now and we see two teenagers across the street on bikes. They look across and see the masked man inside the bank.
“Hey, whats that?” Says the one boy
“That’s Bad News.” Says the other
“The wrestler?” Says the first boy
“What? No, how should I know who it is, he has a mask on. I mean its bad news for the WCF. That guy just wrecked their storefront…...Whys he stealing lollypops though? You can get those for like 1 dollar at 7-11.” Says the second
The masked man turns and sprints for the door. He is stopped dead in his tracks when he sees the two boys across the street staring at him.
“QUICK, CALL THE COPS!!” The one boy shouts
“God damnit” The masked man mutters and takes off running
Suddenly a caped figure appears as a silhouette on the rooftop behind the masked man. He gives chase from the roof above
“STOP RIGHT THERE!!!” Shouts the hero
“ITS JUST LOLLIES!!!” The thief shouts back
The hero leaps off the building above and spreads his cape out so it catches the wind. He immediately falls 25 feet to the pavement below and lands like a sack of potatoes. The thief stops and looks behind him
The music stops
“Jesus Christ dude are you ok?”
The hero slowly gets to his feet. He dusts himself off and tries to look cool but he is obviously in a bit of pain
“Of course I’m alright. I’m a superhero”
He starts giving chase again and the masked man turns and runs. They chase each other through the dark and wet city streets. Lollipops fall from the thief’s bag every time he makes a sharp turn.
They run for blocks as the hero begins slowly gaining on the thief. Coming to an intersection, the masked man attempts to slide over the hood of a taxi cab stopped at a red light. Instead, he doesn’t quite make it onto the hood and slams hip first into the side of the cab, collapsing in a heap in the road.
The taxi driver gets out of his car and comes around the front. He is a handsome man with piercing blue eyes.
“What the hell brah? Did you not see me here?”
“I wanted to slide over the hood”
“Im the only car on the street, why couldn’t you just go around me?
“That’s not how these kinds of chases work”
“What kind of chases?”
I NEED A HERO!!!!!!!!!!!!
The superheros music comes back on and he appears from around the corner. He is covered in mud but he is unfazed. He comes sprinting up to the taxi where the thief is sitting against the wheel well trying to regain his composure.
“I got you!” The hero says as he stands triumphantly over the downed thief
“Ugh, who the hell are you? Why are you covered in Mud? That is mud right?” The taxi driver asks
“Yea its mud, the grass is slippery over there. I fell”
“What kind of superhero slips in mud? Can’t you fly?
“No…I definitely can’t fly. I tried that before”
“Are your tights ripped?
“Yea….I jumped a fence on my way over here. There was a dog”
“Rottweiler?
“Pomeranian….”
“Jesus dude……”
“Nevermind all that! The point is i caught this thief and now he needs to go to jail”
“Actually, I caught him….well he sort of caught himself” The taxi driver said
The thief nodded his head in defeat and pointed his thumb at the taxi driver.
The hero, looking indignant, place his hands on his hips and stood tall
“Nonsense, the papers will report this the way I tell them to when I bring this thief in to jail. I can see it now in big headlines. Bank robber caught by……”
BLAM!!!!!!!
Before the hero can say his name he is hit by a speeding bus and sent flying 100 feet up the road, landing in the gutter with his cape over his head. The ass of his tights are ripped, exposing his buttocks.
“Oh wow” said the thief
“Yea, its probably not a good idea to just stand in the middle of a dark road like that.”
In the distance the bus driver pokes his head out the door and looks around. He pulls his head back inside the bus and drives away.
“What did you steal anyway?” The taxi driver says as he grabs the backpack
“Lollipops? Seriously? What are you four?”
“I couldn’t get into the vault…….”
“No shit you couldn’t get into the vault. It’s a solid steel vault and you brought a hammer…..”
“Ill get em next time…”
RINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Neforian is startled awake by an alarm clock ringing. He sits straight up and turns it off. He looks around his room.
“What a weird dream….”
He was proud of all of his accomplishments, specifically the helping hands club which he had founded to give aid to single mothers around the country. This day was the culmination of all of that. Today he would walk across the stage and graduate at the top of his class. He would be recognized by his peers and by members of the faculty for all of his accomplishments.
Henry didn’t need the recognition of his peers, though it was nice to finally be above them. Instead, he was grateful that his mother would be here to see him. She always worked and had a difficult time getting time off. Henry understood, and while it hurt him that his mother had missed many things in his life, he was thankful to her. He was filled with immense pride in who she was and he was happy that she was able to attend, though he knew that financially she probably shouldn’t have.
“Ladies and gentleman, the graduating class of Stonewall Jackson High School”
Henry led his class out from behind the curtain and into the packed auditorium. The crowd of family and friends who had gathered stood and clapped. Excited younger siblings jumped up and down and pointed and waved to their brothers and sisters. Henry tried his best to look formal but he couldn’t help but smile. He could feel the eyes of the crowd on him as he walked in front of his peers with his head held high. He couldn’t help but feel like this must be what Hulk Hogan or the Macho Man would have felt like entering the grandest stage of them all. He liked the feeling.
Henrys classmates filed into their seats in the front 5 rows as henry continued up onto the stage and took his seat. Looking out over the crowd he realized that his nerves had completely calmed. It dawned on him that surprisingly, he enjoyed this. He enjoyed being on the stage in front of hundreds of people. He finally felt comfortable.
“Thank you all for attending this great day in the lives of these young men. It is a great honor for me to have been principal here for the entire duration of this classes tenure. I have watched them grow and develop into the men you see here today. Please join me in a round of applause in honor of their special day today.”
The crowd erupted into applause once again. In a few moments the applause died down and the principal spoke again.
“It gives me great joy to introduce to you this year’s valedictorian, Henry Neforian”
Henry rose to his feet as his name was called and walked across the stage to the sound of applause from the people in attendance. He shook the principals hand and took his spot behind the podium. Adjusting the microphone up a bit (he had grown quite a bit and now stood over six feet tall) he looked out over the crowd.
“Friends, Family, Faculty, Peers. It is a great honor for me to stand here before you as valedictorian. We have all been through so much in our four years here at this school. We have all grown and we have all changed. We have grown up. We have become men and women. We have become adults.”
Henry paused for a moment before continuing
“As I sat in my room for the last month and a half trying to come up with ideas for a graduation speech I realized a few things. First and foremost I realized that I was terrible at coming up with ideas for graduation speeches.”
The crowd laughed as Henry smiled
“But the biggest thing I realized was something that occurred to me late in the afternoon yesterday as I finished writing my speech. I suddenly realized that everything I had written down meant nothing to me. I realized that the speech I had worked long and hard at was in fact, nothing at all what I had hoped to convey and nothing at all what I imagined myself saying to my classmates if I ever had the chance.”
“So I threw it away….”
“I threw the speech into the trash and I sat down at my desk and wrote for an hour. I didn’t worry about saying all the usual clichés. I didn’t worry about pointing out who our favorite teachers were and I didn’t worry about touching on all the subjects that get beaten into submission every year.”
“Instead, I wrote from the heart…”
“I spilled out onto paper and breathed life into the one thing I knew I wanted to speak on more than anything. Acceptance”
Henry paused and the room stood eerily silent. He felt a measure of pride that he had captivated his audience into silence. He could feel them lean in to hear what he had to say.
“As we grow and develop into men and women I feel it is important that we never lose sight of the fact that while we may have different interests, different hobbies, different career choices, different attitudes, we all share one common desire and that is to be accepted by our peers.”
“A man named Steve Goodier once said,
“All of us sport an invisible sign around our necks -- “AS IS.” It means, take me as I am. I may not become what you want me to be. And I’m far, far from perfect. But I have some great qualities, too, as well as my share of faults. You will have to take me “AS IS” and I’ll take you that way, too.”
“I find this quote to be beautiful and telling of who we are as people. We are all different and we all come from different walks of life. We all come just as we are and each and every one of us is made exactly the way we are intended. True acceptance is found within that knowledge.”
“True acceptance of our peers is in fact, acceptance of the knowledge that we are all perfect in ourselves. That we all have value. That we all bring qualities to the table that can and should be recognized by others as integral parts of the way our society functions.”
“I look out across the crowd today and I see a sea of faces looking back at me. I see the faces of people who have befriended me at times when I needed them and I see faces of those who have made me feel not good enough.”
“My four years here have been difficult. I sometimes wonder if they would have been easier if perhaps I was a bit more popular. Maybe if I could just throw the football things would have been easier for me. That is not who I am though. My peace lies within the acceptance of myself just the way I am and in my acceptance of each and every one of you just the way you are.”
“As we move on to the next phase of our lives, for some it is college, for others the work force. I beg you all. Please take the time to look into the eyes of the people you talk to. Take the initiative to get to know the person behind those eyes. Take a small moment out of your own lives to ask someone else about theirs. You may find that in opening those doors and accepting others into your own life that you are unknowingly saving theirs.”
“After today I will likely never see the majority of you again and so I would like to leave you with one final thought”
“When the day comes that you feel you just cannot carry on, and that day WILL come, look back and remember me standing in front of you today. Remember a boy who struggled to make friends. Who struggled to meet people and who struggled to fit in. Remember the constant struggle that his life must have been. Remember how he powered through it all and fought his way to the top of his class. Then I want you to remember what he said when he closed his speech. When he stood before you and said…..
“I appreciate what you have done for me. You have allowed me to find strength inside myself. You have given me the opportunity to dig deep inside myself and pull out a strength that I didn’t know existed and I will be forever in your debt”
“Thank you to my classmates, thank you to my teachers, and thank you to my mother who has always been the glue that kept me together. I love you all. God Bless”
Henry walked off the stage as the crowd erupted into applause. He was able to catch a glimpse at his mother whose face was wet with tears as she stood and clapped.
An hour later Henry exited the auditorium looking for his mother. He found her waiting outside and she hugged him when she saw him.
“What an incredible speech honey. It was incredibly courageous. Im glad you spoke from the heart”
“I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I hadn’t been honest”
Henrys mother smiled and the two of them walked towards the car.
“HEY HENRY! GREAT SPEECH!!”
Henry turned to see who was complimenting him and was hit directly in the chest with a strawberry milkshake. He looked down to see the pink liquid covering his white button down shirt. His mother was stunned. A car full of henrys classmates sped away and Henry could hear them laughing as they left the parking lot. He looked across the car to his mother who didn’t know what to say.
“Come on, lets get out of here. Im glad this is all over” He said and the two of them climbed into the car
Henrys mother started it up and they drove off out of the parking lot.
__________________________________________________
We open to a city street lit only by the streetlights and the occasional headlights of a passing car. Rain falls constant and steady, glistening in the glow of the street lights. A siren in the distance breaks the silence. Suddenly footsteps can be heard walking quickly across the pavement. A pair of boots enters the camera view and the camera pans back to reveal a hooded figure with a ski mask on. He walks up to a store front and pulls a crowbar out from his backpack. The camera pans back and the front comes into view.
“Bank of WCF”
The masked man talks to himself. He is barely understandable.
“Its payday big guy, this place is just full of cash”
The masked man places the crowbar in the door and pries….
Nothing. Not even a budge.
The masked man tries again but still gets nowhere. He shrugs his shoulders and smashed the window with his crowbar. The window explodes into a million pieces and the alarm goes off.
“Damn, I guess I didn’t account for not being strong enough to get the door open. Gotta be quick now” The masked man said.
He runs inside and finds the vaults. He places his bag down and starts pulling things out of it.
“Hammer? No that wont work.”
“Mettalica sweatshirt? No”
“Rubber chicken? Definitiely not”
“Ohhh my Pete Rose baseball card, I was looking for that. Wont help me here though”
“Latest edition of ESPN the body issue? No”
“God damn why did I bring this stuff? How did I expect to get in the vault with a rubber chicken and a Pete Rose baseball card?”
Panicking now, the masked man stands up and runs to the front desk area. He opens all the cashiers registers but they are empty of course. He runs back out to the lobby and looks around. He is frantic now. He runs over to the waiting area.
“Fuck it”
He runs over to the front desk and starts shoving lolly pops into his backpack.
“This will do I guess. Not like ive ever gotten anything else from this company”
The camera spins around now and we see two teenagers across the street on bikes. They look across and see the masked man inside the bank.
“Hey, whats that?” Says the one boy
“That’s Bad News.” Says the other
“The wrestler?” Says the first boy
“What? No, how should I know who it is, he has a mask on. I mean its bad news for the WCF. That guy just wrecked their storefront…...Whys he stealing lollypops though? You can get those for like 1 dollar at 7-11.” Says the second
The masked man turns and sprints for the door. He is stopped dead in his tracks when he sees the two boys across the street staring at him.
“QUICK, CALL THE COPS!!” The one boy shouts
“God damnit” The masked man mutters and takes off running
Suddenly a caped figure appears as a silhouette on the rooftop behind the masked man. He gives chase from the roof above
“STOP RIGHT THERE!!!” Shouts the hero
“ITS JUST LOLLIES!!!” The thief shouts back
The hero leaps off the building above and spreads his cape out so it catches the wind. He immediately falls 25 feet to the pavement below and lands like a sack of potatoes. The thief stops and looks behind him
The music stops
“Jesus Christ dude are you ok?”
The hero slowly gets to his feet. He dusts himself off and tries to look cool but he is obviously in a bit of pain
“Of course I’m alright. I’m a superhero”
He starts giving chase again and the masked man turns and runs. They chase each other through the dark and wet city streets. Lollipops fall from the thief’s bag every time he makes a sharp turn.
They run for blocks as the hero begins slowly gaining on the thief. Coming to an intersection, the masked man attempts to slide over the hood of a taxi cab stopped at a red light. Instead, he doesn’t quite make it onto the hood and slams hip first into the side of the cab, collapsing in a heap in the road.
The taxi driver gets out of his car and comes around the front. He is a handsome man with piercing blue eyes.
“What the hell brah? Did you not see me here?”
“I wanted to slide over the hood”
“Im the only car on the street, why couldn’t you just go around me?
“That’s not how these kinds of chases work”
“What kind of chases?”
I NEED A HERO!!!!!!!!!!!!
The superheros music comes back on and he appears from around the corner. He is covered in mud but he is unfazed. He comes sprinting up to the taxi where the thief is sitting against the wheel well trying to regain his composure.
“I got you!” The hero says as he stands triumphantly over the downed thief
“Ugh, who the hell are you? Why are you covered in Mud? That is mud right?” The taxi driver asks
“Yea its mud, the grass is slippery over there. I fell”
“What kind of superhero slips in mud? Can’t you fly?
“No…I definitely can’t fly. I tried that before”
“Are your tights ripped?
“Yea….I jumped a fence on my way over here. There was a dog”
“Rottweiler?
“Pomeranian….”
“Jesus dude……”
“Nevermind all that! The point is i caught this thief and now he needs to go to jail”
“Actually, I caught him….well he sort of caught himself” The taxi driver said
The thief nodded his head in defeat and pointed his thumb at the taxi driver.
The hero, looking indignant, place his hands on his hips and stood tall
“Nonsense, the papers will report this the way I tell them to when I bring this thief in to jail. I can see it now in big headlines. Bank robber caught by……”
BLAM!!!!!!!
Before the hero can say his name he is hit by a speeding bus and sent flying 100 feet up the road, landing in the gutter with his cape over his head. The ass of his tights are ripped, exposing his buttocks.
“Oh wow” said the thief
“Yea, its probably not a good idea to just stand in the middle of a dark road like that.”
In the distance the bus driver pokes his head out the door and looks around. He pulls his head back inside the bus and drives away.
“What did you steal anyway?” The taxi driver says as he grabs the backpack
“Lollipops? Seriously? What are you four?”
“I couldn’t get into the vault…….”
“No shit you couldn’t get into the vault. It’s a solid steel vault and you brought a hammer…..”
“Ill get em next time…”
RINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Neforian is startled awake by an alarm clock ringing. He sits straight up and turns it off. He looks around his room.
“What a weird dream….”
