Graduation Speech: My First Black Man Becoming President

It was a cool spring day in 2008 and 4th grade had been going swell. I’d been sitting in class for last couple hours worrying about my vocab quiz, which always seemed to elude me. All the kids around me had giant smiles on their faces life was good for us. Today’s lunch was pizza and maybe a salad. After sitting at our desks we headed down stairs to eat at lunch and enjoy ourselves. The teachers around us seemed exacerbated, tired a partial look of sadness every once and a while, these emotions broke on their faces depending on the day, but this must have been because they didn’t like the pizza. Ms. Hammer asked us “ Could you please all get in line and if you talk timeouts will be given out” As we head down stairs John and Richey continued
Hey Alex “you got the new call of duty” “No” id say, “well that sucks.” A couple months before Obama had been elected and we’d all been called into the music room to watch historic event of the first black man becoming president. To us though it was just another day in lower school. We cared about the Giants who had just won the Super bowl they were the main topic of discussion. We’d say, “ wow what a game they were unstoppable out there against the Patriots” and then they asked, “ How was that vocab quiz?” I’d say “you know a vocab quiz I can never really get them right”. After taking the quiz we headed up to the roof for our daily recess period. It was a warm day, but not awful and as usual the boys and girls played tag against each other trying to see, which side was better. “Your it” “No your it” went back and fourth for at least an hour. Once done, we headed back downstairs to breakoff into our reading classes. This was the final class of the day and I couldn’t wait to get home and watch some T.V. After working on our basic grammar I picked upped my bright green L.L Bean Bag and went down stairs to be picked
I’d known that the U.S had been at war with Iraq and Afghanistan, I even remembered when we invaded Iraq in 2003 heading up to ski in Vermont. At the time I hadn’t even given to thought to it. War was like a board game to me it was a game of strategy like in Risk or Axis and Allies. However, at this moment the broadcast had gone quite and an American flag began to wave in the background. I asked my dad and mom “What are they doing what’s with all the faces showing up on the screen” and then it hit me deep down inside and at the bottom it said U.S combat deaths in Iraq. I stood their staring at the faces and realized that this had been on T.V for many years now, but I’d always been building my Lego’s never looking up to really absorb what was happing. These men where dying, I realized, oversees in a country that they didn’t know and I was here playing with my Legos. My dad said “ Those are the men that had died in combat this week in Iraq” I asked, “What did they die for dad” my dad in an a stressed unsure face said “ Son I really don’t know, but apparently there are some bad guys over their and they need to protect us” “oh ok”. My mom looked on and chimed in “They are fighting for our freedoms son, always remember that and even though the cause my seem mislead these are the most brave men alive” “Alright I’ll never join the military” “That’s a good thing to hear son” my dad said