Rough Draft Valedictorian Commencement Address Vers. 2.3

I was wondering if I could come up with some remarks that managed to avoid the platitudes and cliches that these speeches are invariably peppered with. Things such as, "not only does this mark the end of a long journey, but the beginning of a whole new one." While most cliches are true, they are only shallowly so, and don't bear repeating, though I guess that I've already done that. Being valedictorian is an honor, it truly is, but in a graduating class of only 22, it's not the absolute grandest of accomplishments. Most of the 21 other graduates here tonight have accomplish much more, and worked far harder than I. Many of them have juggled raising a child, working a job, often full time, dealing with problems such as gangs and or drugs, and going to school five days a week, thirty-six weeks a year, and, for most of them, four years. I have developed a tremendous respect for all of them, for getting so far, and overcoming so many hurdles, ones that I myself, for the most part, haven't been faced with. Through four years of going to this school, a rarity given its nature, and the fluid, transient aspects of its student body, there are many wonderful teachers and staff members that I've become indebted to. I'd like to recognize and thank, in no particular order, Sue Ann Dobbyn, David Hutchison, Shelly Hangen, Brandy Snyder, Doug Bickel, Bruce Marks, Jack Bonham, Linda Kincaid, Ken Schaeffer, Amy Carpenter, Ignacio Tebas, Mrs. Barber, Polly Staski, and many others. I must apologize for I know that I must have left a few people out that deserve my gratitude, and I did so only due to the frailties of my memory, and not through any desire to slight. I can honestly say that in my four years at this school, I have not had one teacher that I absolutely could not stand. I'd also like to thank my family, my mom and dad, brother and sister, and my grandparents and uncles. I'm extremely lucky to have so many people willing and dedicated to help me along in any way that I might need. I also want to thank all of my friends through the years, there are too many for a list, you guys were awesome, even you Bob, you raving lunatic. In all honesty, I probably could've done it without you guys, but it wouldn't nearly of been so fun. I'd especially like to thank Yeny, my absolute favorite and best friend, you've done more for me than you can know. In my time at this school, not everyone's that been involved in it has been nearly so benevolent and helpful as those I've mentioned. Two people in particular spring to mind. People who have been at this school long enough will know who I'm talking about, and those of you who don't, I'm sure those that do would be more than willing to tell you all about it. Two years ago, from the beginning of the 2005 school year, this disastrous duo began a seemingly systematic campaign that appeared to be aimed at dismantling and destroying the fundamental character of this school. I know not whether that campaign was of their own conception, or if they were merely implementing the wishes of someone or ones higher along on the food chain. Even if it wasn't their brainchild, they displayed in their administration an unnecessary, counterproductive, tyrannical, totalitarian, oppressive and vindictive attitude of general contempt not only for the students, but for the staff as well. One incident stands out above all the others, and there were many, that best encapsulates the zeitgeist of those times. A few weeks into the '05 school year, the then principal got into a disagreement with a teacher, David Hutchison, over a matter of discipline. In what can only be described as a blatant attempt to punish dissent, regardless of the negative impact on dozens of students' educations, would be for Hutch to switch the classes that he taught with Ken Schaeffer; Ken would take his, and he would take Ken's. With them being two of the most loved teachers at the school, this decision didn't sit well with their students. The very next day, a student managed to organize a way for the school to express their disgruntlement, and there was a school-wide student walkout to protest the unjustness of the whole affair. This caused the principal to review her actions, but also institute a regime of collective punishment, mainly against the students, but that also had a strong effect on the staff as well. The administration managed to create such an oppressive environment that they effectively forced numerous teachers to transfer to other schools, and caused quite a few students to drop out, who otherwise might have been here tonight alongside us. This lasted for the entire year, and was perpetuated for the first half of this year by her folically challenged successor. Their combined year and a half reign fundamentally altered and effectively destroyed the place that this school was. Much of the damage done is most likely irreparable. However, this semester, I've begun to see the beginning of mending happening. Most likely, this is due to the departure of the aforementioned administrators, and the arrival of new ones dedicated to more than just their ego. Our principal, Dr. Hobbs, as well as our assistant principal, Mrs. Staski, have managed to very quickly begin to turn this place around. I have an amazing amount of respect and gratitude for the both of them. They have replaced the former dictatorial, heavy handed management policy in favor of one that's more open minded, balanced, even handed, and dedicated to serving the needs of the students. They have given the teachers the proper professional freedom and latitude to perform the jobs they're tasked with effectively, and that is something that this school had been sorely lacking for the longest time.

We are all a product of our times; my time has been ominously overshadowed by one issue above most others. Almost half a year before I started my first day of High School, and throughout my entire time there, our country has been involved in war on a scale like no other it's been in since the days of The Beatles, LBJ and Tricky Dick Nixon, Woodstock, and the Apollo moon landings. Since we started this war, over 3,300 of our soldiers have been killed; that is a number that surpasses the toll that 9/11 took on this country. There have also been nearly 300 fatalities of soldiers from other countries, mainly the United Kingdom, but also Bulgaria, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Thailand, and the Ukraine. Besides uniformed soldiers, at least 400 civilian military contractors have been killed, the preponderance hailing from the states, but also citizens of dozens of other countries. This war has been the most deadly of any for journalists since WWII, with not less than 167 of them being killed. By far though, the population that has born the brunt and suffered the most is, ironically, the one that it was supposed to liberate. The people of Iraq have suffered 70,000 reported deaths, a bare minimum number, with 30,000 of them coming in the last year alone. The real number may be closer to 650,000. In a nation with the population one-twelfth that of the US, that's the equivalent of them suffering a terrorist attack equaling 9/11 somewhere in between two months and every week. Taken as a proportion of the population, that would be like the US suffering such an attack from as rarely as every five days four hours, to as frequently as twice every twenty-eight hours. Try to imagine the effect, if you can, that that would have on the core fabric of our society, the equivalent of 850,000 through 7,800,000 people dead. For the two or three soldiers we lose every day, they lose from 50 to 500 civilians, ordinary people going about their daily lives, trying to survive in a war-zone that we had the courtesy to create for them. They suffer several massacres every day rivaling and surpassing our most recent national tragedy, the Virginia Tech shooting. As of today, we have been inside of Iraq for 1,521 days; it has been 1,479 days since George W. Bush declared the end of major combat operations; of every US fatality, all but 140 of them have taken place after that declaration of his. It took us 174 fewer days to defeat the Axis nations during WWII, from Pearl Harbor to VJ Day. The example that the students of San Andres showed a year and a half ago is one that should serve as a template for a response to this war. A year and a half ago, we not only saw an injustice, because we see them every day, but we saw one that affected each of us personally, and we decided to try and do something about it. Even if in the end we didn't succeed, the point is that we still tried. What each of us must realize, not only those of us graduating, or you guys out in the audience, but us collectively as a nation, we must realize that even if we don't enlist, or have someone we care about sent overseas, it is still an issue that affects each and every one of us personally. Actions such as this are carried out in our name, and when they happen and very few people stand up and say, "This is not right", we give it our tacit support and approval. The nearly half a trillion dollar price tag that this war comes with is taken directly out of your paycheck, and, at the rate we're spending, that of your child's as well. Every bullet that's fired, every bomb that's dropped is paid for by you; it is the fruits of your labor that has allowed this war to happen. It has been clear since almost right after the fall of Baghdad that the Casus Belli for initiating this war was false, and the preponderance of evidence indicates, deliberately so. This war is the most massive mistake, the worst crime that this country has been in the middle of for my lifetime, and probably most of yours. Unfortunately, it's reached a point where it's developed into a civil war, with 150,000 of our soldiers caught in the crossfire. Effectively, the course of the war is now largely out of our hands, and the killing will continue no matter what we do, whether we listen to that wise sage of a man, George W. Bush, and "stay the course", or we admit our grievous mistake and bring the boys back home. We failed to contain this war when we had the chance, or better yet, before it even started. Many of us take comfort in the mythos of a mighty America, with liberty and justice for all; if we seek to be able to continue to honestly claim that mantle, there is something that we, as a country, must do, and that personally includes all of us here tonight. Each of us needs to demand accountability from the people who were the architects of this war.Such people as George Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, Condeleeza Rice, Colin Powell, Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, Stephen Hadley, George Tenet, and others unknown, must be impeached, censured, indicted, incarcerated, fined, whatever may be appropriate given their responsibility for what has happened, and the extent of their role in it. You should call you congressman, your senators, write them, write letters to the editor, occupy the offices of congressman and recruitment center, take to the streets and lie down in them; the situation is so dire, the stakes are so high, that no action of dissent, protest, or civil disobedience can be considered too drastic. I'd like to end with a passage from the Nuremberg Judgment of the Nuremberg Trials that encapsulates the massivity of what I am speaking. "The charges in the indictment that the defendants planned and waged aggressive wars are charges of the utmost gravity. War is essentially an evil thing. Its consequences are not confined to the belligerent states alone, but affect the whole world. To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime, but the Supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes that it contains within its self the accumulated evil of the whole." A war of aggression is a crime in and of its self that leads to all other war crimes, which are bound to occur in any war. The leaders of this nation are undoubtedly guilty of such a crime.

I'd like to thank everyone her, and, if I managed to make it this far, I'd like to thank whoever decided not to cut my microphone for, admittedly, straying outside the bounds of my prerogative. The only reason I did that was because the opportunity to speak before such a large crowd gave me the chance to change possibly even just one person's mind, and I had to take advantage of it. I'd just like to say again how much I admire and respect these men and women that I am here with tonight, thank you.