Summary Of To This Day By Shane Koyczan

Every teenager thinks that they have it the worst. That they've been through and seen everything. The truth is they haven't and they will only realize that when they become an adult. I recently read a speech given by a man named Shane Koyczan. He titled it "To This Day". When I started it, I thought he was going to tell me about his childhood, but then progressed onto the life of teens and what they go through. I liked this speech because I felt like so many teens could relate to it and it got me hooked to the speach itself and the spokesperson. In the end, he was trying to get a simple message to the certain people who thinks their life is bad. What I got from it, Koyczan was telling us to stop reflecting on the past and the bad things happening to you now, and look at the beautiful side to life and live it to the fullest. Koyczan was telling us that no matter what people say, we are amazing and beautiful just the way we are. He gave us hope.
The theme, hope, is best communicated through the author's use of word choice and relatible topics.
To have a good speach, you need to get your audience's attention. One of the best ways to do that is to have good word choice. For example, a boring way to say that kids live bad moments in their life is by saying "kids live bad moments in their life". The audience already knows this, so a better way to say that is to have unique word choice. Koyczan does this by adding his own memories of his childhood and stories of his friends. This way he has more of an emotional touch than a boring one. Another example of word choice is that the author uses the word "you" in the speech often. Doing this, Koyczan is making a connection with the audience and touching on their own lives. An example of this is when he says "maybe you didn't belong to a group or a click. Maybe they decided to pick you last for basketball of everything. " This way the audience can reflect on their own past and become more emotional and touched to his
story.

One major reason why teens love this speech is because Koyczan uses relatible topics in his story. This way he sets the tone as emotional. He tells his own story, and then starts getting into topics that the audience would've gone through. Doing this, the author is connecting with his audience and making them attracted to what he is saying. He knows that a lot of teens don't see themselves beautiful, smart, and independent. He knows that teens don't think they have friends so he uses all of these in his speech to get their attention. After tearing the audience apart and meking them mournful about their past, Koyczan raises them up by saying things like "If you can't see anything beautiful about yourself, get a better mirror. Look a little closer. Stare a little longer. Because there's something inside you that made you keep trying despite everyone who told you to quit." He is telling the audience to look at themselves as what they want to be, not what others are saying they are.

"To This Day" Is my favorite speech because i find it very inspiring just like almost every other teen that has heard it has. The theme used in this speech is hope. The author makes sure we know this by using good word choice and relatible topics. The audience has learned that "our lives will only ever always continue to be a balancing act that has less to do with pain, and more to do with beauty".