Digital Voices

One Lonely Page
Aleisha

Aleisha’s speech

Everyone comes from somewhere, and it is important to know your heritage. The past is significant to the present and the future. People are like the pages of a book. The pages before them are their ancestors, and the ones after them are their descendants. If you rip out a piece from the middle of the book, it makes little sense. You have to know what came before to completely understand. I, myself used to be a lonely page, until I found my book.
My grandmother had always told me that I had the same personality as my great-great grandmother, Beverly. To be honest, I never really cared. However, I recently found my grandmother’s family tree. It dated all the way back to the Mayflower. Down near the bottom I saw written in a flowery scrawl Beverly (O’Neil) Andrews 1862-1957. Underneath the dusty life map was a pile of yellowing papers. A little journal on top caught my eye. It was my great-great-grandmother’s journal. Only the first four pages were written in. It told a story of how she had fallen in love. Sadly, the man wasn’t in love with her.
Like Beverly, I have suffered from a one-sided love for almost a year. My heart had shattered when I realized that it would probably always be one-sided. I had seen movies in which the main character overcame their feelings and moved on. I had seen movies where their love was realized and accepted. It didn’t help. My mother had told me that everything would work out. She had told me I was wonderful and only a fool would give me up. That didn’t help either. I felt alone in my pain, like no one else understood my heartache.
I can’t remember how many times I read those pages. Five, six, seventy-two. On the last page, was Beverly’s greatest gift to me. A passage about how she had learned to move on. Knowing that someone who is a part of me suffered as I did helped me to cope. She was the only one to truly understand.
Thanks to my dead relative’s four pages of love lessons, I managed to piece together my broken heart. I realized that even though I love that one person with all of my being, I will still be able to move on if and when the time comes.

Cody’s speech 

I believe in selflessness.
That’s selflessness. Not selfishness. That’s putting others before self. Not self centered.
That’s looking outwardly. Not inwardly.
Yes, I believe in putting others before oneself.

And I believe that using selflessness for small, insignificant situations can solve a bigger problem. For example, I stand in the lunch line and watch as mobs of students cut to the front. I tell myself that it’s not that big of a deal, but I realize that if nobody cut, the line would move incredibly fast. People cut because they don’t want to stand forever, but if nobody cut, the line would run so smoothly people would get to the front just as fast.

There have been many times when I have not been selfless. Such is the case in basketball. The basketball court is a battlefield. I used to look out for myself, because if I didn’t do my job, I sat the bench. I know, I should have been thinking “teamwork,” but in the end it came down to who was doing their job on the court, and who wasn’t. During one of my games, I was going up for a lay-up and I got hammered, sprawling out on the baseline. I went to get up, and an opponent offered me his hand. Now I find that “cool.” I find that respectable. Of all the hot-shots out there, of all those who can dunk and dribble like mad, I admire those who can help me up from the court. Here we were, in a situation made for selfishness, and this kid had enough decency to get me on my feet.

There are many times when I am selfless. Such is the case in one big memory of me tutoring a student. I circle a math problem on the piece of paper, telling him to try one by himself. He looks toward a few students on the other side of the classroom, but I pull him back, not letting him lose focus. He’s smart, and I know it. He doesn’t know it, and doesn’t want to. I won’t let him fail, so I push him, forcing him to think, to work. Within a half-an-hour the homework page is done. It is the first piece of homework that he has ever completed. He looks up at me and smiles.

There have also been times when I have seen others that lack selflessness. For instance, a woman was unloading packages from her car. Her arms were full, almost to the point of dropping the packages, and she was advancing towards the door. A man on a cell phone passed her halfway there and slipped through the door, letting it shut behind him. The woman stopped walking and stared. She was just as surprised as me. Then she began to attempt to open the door herself, shuffling sideways to get a hand out. I raced up and grabbed the handle for her, and she smiled very pleasantly, thanked me, and headed through.

I believe that lifting someone to their feet, helping someone learn, and holding a door are all selfless. I believe that simple acts can be selfless, and thus selflessness is actually very easy. I believe that people appreciate selflessness, and that I should strive to be selfless toward others.

I also believe that selflessness can be spread. Selflessness is the hidden cure. In a world of violence, people ask for a solution. Selflessness is that solution. It’s a cure that no one has considered. It doesn’t require brilliant mind and a multibillion dollar research facility. It doesn’t require incredible motivation and dedication. It requires believing. I hear about selfishness all the time, but I barely ever hear of selflessness. I want to replace selfish with selfless. I’m going to be selfless to others, in hopes that they will do the same. Let’s share selflessness with the world.
Let’s believe in selflessness.