During my junior year in 2019, I participated in the Soapbox Speech Competition. I won the Student’s Choice Award for my speech “Be Human,” but what does this speech mean to me to this day?
I started my line with this: “Today I’m going to talk about how your voice is unstoppable. To begin with, I wasn’t born here. I came here when I was 8 years old from Egypt because a huge violent protest was happening all over the nation for presidential impeachment. I remember waking up early in the morning at 6:00 o’clock and saying goodbye to my Aunt and my Uncle who really I never got to see again other than that time. I remember going to school and really not knowing how to communicate with others. It was difficult because people would bully me and say these terrible things to me that until this day I remember it all the time. I wish I could’ve changed that and said something out loud because if only I said something to let’s say a teacher or any adult I could’ve stopped it but I couldn’t. Now here I am standing before all of you and speaking somewhat of English.”
Although not the best grammar (cut me some slack, I was a shy teenager), it was still powerful to see the story of someone no longer just someone walking past you in the halls, but rather you can picture that specific situation of a little Tony having to deal with such a great hardship already. Here is the thing: a lot of immigrant stories start the same way as this. Firstly, dealing with an urgent situation that may concern your family’s safety, and needing to find a way to go somewhere else for a better future.
I then stated, “I truly believe that the present generation screwed things up. I mean talk about our climate, 750 billion tons of ice is melting every year due to global warming. That’s 24,000 tons of melting water being added to the world’s oceans every single second, the checks and balances system, debates about gun control, racism, I mean really the list can keep going. The world is on our shoulders. Imagine if someone went into your new house you just bought but before you move in you have to go get your furniture, decorations, your technology, but someone comes in and keeps destroying your house, you’re obviously going to stop him and say something. So why are we not stopping the people that keep destroying our home planet, Earth? Us ”kids” as the adults call us are educated We have the power.”
Seeing the injustice in the world, I didn’t stay down and let it happen; I decided to speak up. A teenager who was told many times, “You are only a kid, there are things you won’t understand until you grow up,” faced reality and stood up for what he believed. It was that courage that still carries me today, and that example that should be held by all. “So why are we not stopping the people that keep destroying our home planet, Earth? Us ”kids” as the adults call us are educated We have the power.” A call to action to stand for our human rights. Why do we let people destroy our home? If the youth can never participate in fighting against the unjust, who is to check the older generation when obviously creating destruction for our home?
“If you don’t believe me then I will show you an example. Greta Thunberg. She is a climate and environmental activist from Sweden. She gave a speech very recently to the U.N. Climate Action Summit and she is only 16 years old. In her speech, she said, “This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are at the beginning of mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you! For more than 30 years, science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you’re doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight” Pretty tough right? Well, she is only 16 years old.”
At this time, there weren’t many youth representatives fighting for social and environmental justice. Constantly told that creating change in this world is for others who are a lot older and who are capable. We were searching for those to make change, when the whole time we were searching for ourselves. That was the point I created in this part of the speech, that others are in our same situation and yet they are fighting for justice, why don’t we? Greta continues to fight for justice as she attempts to aid Gaza in a mission by chartering a flotilla to deliver aid to the people suffering. Currently, she faces abuse that has been reported by people who were with her when her flotilla was intercepted by Israeli forces. A selfless act to defend justice for all, and a selfless charge to protect human rights.
I ended my speech with this, “Everyone has a voice and everyone has a key role on this Earth, but for some reason, people like us decide to stay quiet. People have to gain confidence and to create the change this world needs. So I ask this to all of you. Be the person our future needs. Be the person every other human needs right now. Be the person that fights for what is right. Be the person that this world needs. Start volunteering. Write to our representatives. Try to talk to others about situations around the world to prevent problems. Give younger people a higher role. Lastly, think outside the box. Don’t be stuck in one lane, try and spread out and impact change. All I ask is for you to be human. Because your voice is unstoppable.”
To this day, I still say the same call to action. Being the person our future needs, the person every human needs, the person to fight for what is right, and who is that person? The answer is simple: It’s You. Be human. Being human is caring for the world and others as you care for those close to you. A call to action, I ask for all of you today, and although my focus has been on the youth, the same call to action reaches out to everyone. When the world sees the injustice occurring, it is up to us to find solutions.
