May 14 All School Meeting

Time flies so fast.

I cannot believe that today is the last Monday morning meeting of the year. And, yes, my Moment of Silence is the last one of the year.

Since this is the last one, I want to make some changes to the typical style of the Moment of Silence.

Here, I am going to prove silence and excitement can coexist even after the speech ends.

Also, I am going to prove clichéd expressions — which teachers strongly recommend avoiding in any speeches or writings — can be pretty awesome, touching, and impressive.

Today, the main word in my speech is “amazement.”

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, amazement is defined as “overwhelming wonder whether due to mere surprise or due to admiration.”

When I first learned this English word, the main sense I had was of a pretty strongly positive word. Though I knew when to use it, I had never felt the feeling of truly being amazed by someone. …Until I met this one person.

This coming Thursday, May 17, is this person’s birthday. I can say with confidence that this person has greatly impressed people around her with her personality. She made me appreciate where I am, what I have and who I am.

However, the only problem is she does not know how wonderful she is.

So, as one of my birthday presents, I decided to let this person know how she has amazed people around her.

Yes, Eliana Goldsher, I am talking about you.

Eliana Goldsher, more commonly known as Ellie, has been my tutor since I came to NMH. She has been my personality, pronunciation, and life tutor. Whenever I need help, she is always next to me.

Currently, she has been tutoring me on American sarcasm, because she knows I struggle so much with knowing how to respond to my teachers’ sarcastic jokes.

Her willingness to help others indeed amazed me.

However, her personality of appreciating everything around her amazed me
even more.

Whenever I complain about my responsibilities, my schoolwork, or show my dissatisfaction with my current life, she always suggests me one activity: ‘Talking about something or someone that amazed us during the day.”

Ellie usually tells me my “Chocopie” from Korea makes her day pretty awesome.

Sometimes, she says the beautiful smile of Wallace Princess, Stella, indeed amazes her.

At first, I did not recognize the power of this activity.

But, after doing it for almost two years, it taught me a really important lesson: Amazing things are not far away from me, but right next to me.

I know it sounds really cliché, but it is the truth.

Right now, only 8 days are left for classes and 14 days are left before graduation. Now on the first day of the last week before Finals, I want to say, ”How about doing this activity all together?”

If we reflect back, there have been so many wonderful events that made you feel happy and proud of being who you are and where you are.

Before it is too late, how about going up to people who have been with you all this year during wonderful and ordinary events, and directly telling them ‘You amazed ME’?

Here are mine;

Class of 2015, the freshness that you brought to NMH indeed amazed me for the whole year.

Class of 2014, your intellectual maturity and enthusiasm always impress me.

Class of 2013, my class, your presence itself is always amazing.

Last but not least, class of 2012, thank you so much for amazing the NMH community with your intelligence and wonderful personalities. All of us are going to miss you so much.

I know it is little bit awkward to end the Moment of Silence in this way, but I want to do it;

Dear Elliana Goldsher, happy early birthday! You are such an amazing person. I love you so much, I love you all, and I love you NMH.

Let us be silent.

Please click here for more photos from the last All School Meeting of the school year.

Two years ago, right before I came to NMH, my friend from home gave me a letter and said, “I always carry this letter with me, read it whenever I feel upset, and it always makes me feel better. I hope you will keep this and hopefully it will help you get through your day.” It has done that for me throughout the past two years. Whenever I read it, I smile and everything seems so much better. So now, I would like to share this with you and hopefully it will be a good way to start of the week. It’s a piece by Iain Thomas and it goes like this…

On this day, you read something that moved you and made you realise there were no more fears to fear. No tears to cry. No head to hang in shame. That every time you thought you’d offended someone, it was all just in your head and really, they love you with all their heart and nothing will ever change that. That everyone and everything lives on inside you. That that doesn’t make any of it any less real.

That soft touches will change you and stay with you longer than hard ones.

That being alone means you’re free. That old lovers miss you and new lovers want you and the one you’re with is the one you’re meant to be with. That the tingles running down your arms are angel feathers and they whisper in your ear, constantly, if you choose to hear them. That everything you want to happen, will happen, if you decide you want it enough. That every time you think a sad thought, you can think a happy one instead.

That you control that completely.

That the people who make you laugh are more beautiful than beautiful people. That you laugh more than you cry. That crying is good for you. That the people you hate wish you would stop and you do too.

That your friends are reflections of the best parts of you. That you are more than the sum total of the things you know and how you react to them. That dancing is sometimes more important than listening to the music.

That the most embarrassing, awkward moments of your life are only remembered by you and no one else. That no one judges you when you walk into a room and all they really want to know, is if you’re judging them. That what you make and what you do with your time is more important than you’ll ever fathom and should be treated as such. That the difference between a job and art is passion. That neither defines who you are. That talking to strangers is how you make friends.

That bad days end but a smile can go around the world. That life contradicts itself, constantly. That that’s why it’s worth living.

That the difference between pain and love is time. That love is only as real as you want it to be. That if you feel good, you look good, but it doesn’t always work the other way around.

That the sun will rise each day and it’s up to you each day if you match it. That nothing matters up until this point. That what you decide now, in this moment, will change the future. Forever. That rain is beautiful.

And so are you.

One year ago, a close friend of mine was kidnapped in Valencia, Venezuela, on the way to his house at 10 pm. We were at a friend’s house when we decided to go home because it was too late. Luckily for me, I stayed 10 more minutes at my friend’s house. However, my friend did not have luck. On his way home, an SUV and a small car blocked him on the street to kidnap him. He was not able to escape. The kidnappers negotiated with his family for about a month. They were asking for 1 million dollars. My friend’s family couldn’t even pay half that amount, therefore the kidnappers decided to kill my friend without even caring about him or his family. These situations happen often in Venezuela, even with famous people. However, my point is not to tell everyone how dangerous Venezuela is right now; instead, I just want everyone to reflect on the things you have now, and to take advantage of all the things you have in life because you never know when it is going to be your last day. Let us be silent.

I imagine in the past few days you have all seen images and heard stories from the September 11^th disaster of ten years ago.  I also imagine that many of you have responded with a full range of emotions to these stories.  I’d like to tell you my story; however, I feel in the end it is really all of our story that I will be telling you, and I am hopeful that you can all take something away from it.

Ten years and one day ago, I walked out of Beveridge Hall and was greeted by an absolutely gorgeous blue sky.  It was one of those perfect early Fall days.  It was around 9:00 in the morning on Tuesday, September 11^th and I was stunned by the brilliance of the day.

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