Geek Alert! Geek Alert!

[Arianna_Fireau]

((OKAY. SO. In my AP English Class I had to write and deliver a Speech. There were a ton of topics one could choose from. Like Social or Political Issue. Current Events. Person you admire. Yada yada yada. I chose to sell something. Why? Because it's easy. NOW. Here is my speech as I intend to present it Tomorrow. I wanted you all to be able to laugh at how Geeky I can be sometimes. Like how I won a Speech Team event with a speech about the Wyld, Weaver, and Wyrm. Cough. Anyways. Without further adieu.... (P.S. My favorite part is the bit about the Warders )... Kat's Speech O' Dorkdom!))

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am here today… To tell you a story. To tell you a story about a friend of mine named Bryce Knight. Bryce was a typical college student. He lived in Fall River and he wanted to be… an artist. Not a typical artist mind you… with the whole paint and marble get-up. Bryce lived behind the lens of a video camera. He wanted to document the world and give a record for future generations. A noble goal. He was quiet. It was easy to just pass over him, to not notice him if you weren’t paying attention. But he noticed you. That was one of his strong points. He noticed everything. Everyone. And, if you could ever pry the camera off of his face… he had a very kind smile.

This story… like too many of them these days… Does not have a happy ending. It ends in a shadowed place with a mistake. Take the handsome smiling brown-haired boy with the kind smile and lay him in an alleyway in a puddle of his own blood. Bryce was in the wrong place in the wrong time. He was killed. And he died alone, bleeding, in an alleyway. No one came to rescue him. No one saw him.

But Bryce saw everything. Bryce… saw the state of the world and he wanted to help. To protect. To change the world with a video camera. I ask you, ladies and gentlemen… Do you believe that the world can be changed with a Video Camera? Do you believe that chronicalling our lives here and now is important? Did you know that According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, 1.35 million U.S. children are homeless on any given night? I put before you a proposal for a non-profit organization known as the White Knight Foundation. This organization would be set up to help pull the youth of the city off the streets. Give them a safe place to go, an alternative to joining gangs or stealing. In return, these youth would get an education, stay in school, and help the younger children adjust to the cruel life of being homeless. Shelters would be established as well as small scholarship foundations. Soup Kitchens would be run and operated out of these Shelters. Space would be given to children after school to play games or practice art. We would give them a home to go to. A home away from the streets. That’s something none of them had ever even seen.

This is the world we live in, ladies and gentlemen. This is a world where people go hungry on the streets and babies are left to their deaths in dumpsters. A world where 42% of homeless children are under the age of five. Five years old. Are there any parents out there? Anyone with kids around that age? Can you imagine your little boy or your little girl begging on the street to try and scrounge up a meal? This is a world where a good man dies alone in the street because he just happened to walk home at the wrong time. Where a kid who got tired of begging for food tried to take it… and things got out of hand. A tragedy.

This brings me to the second part of the White Knight Foundation. A group of volunteers trained in at least basic first aid who would travel around the city at night in groups and in vans looking for trouble. These would not be police officers, but a rather a group of concerned civilians who could be another few sets of eyes. They would be kept strictly away from physical contact since, as previously stated, they are not police officers but… They could catch the aftermath. They could alert the authorities. They could see the way Bryce saw. These… Guardians… These… Warders… Could prevent a death. Could have prevented Bryce’s death. In time, I would like to hope that some of the Youth protected by the Foundation could go on to act as these Guardians and give back to the community. That these very children that we have helped could go on to help others. I hope to tie these two seemingly separate goals together with that strand of hope. That by giving these young people a chance they will go on to give others a chance. But first thing’s first.

First we need to set up a safety net. A haven. A choice. Because we have choices ladies and gentlemen, you and I have choices. You have the choice whether or not to give this project funding. You have a choice of take out or a restaurant or a home-cooked meal. You have choices. Those children? Their choice is steal or beg. Bad or worse. And you have a choice to make a difference. Are you willing to? Are you willing to take that step. To improve a life. I beg you, ladies and gentlemen… I beg you. You have a chance to change the world just a little bit… To give a little bit of hope where there was originally none. You could give a child who previously had nothing… a chance. A choice. So please. When you go home tonight… Hug your children and tell them you love them… And then think of all the children who don’t have that. Remember Bryce and how he saw everything. Remember that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time like so many of those children. Remember that you can help people like my friend. You can help some dark-eyed girl have a life worth living. Because… if you have an opportunity to change a life for the better… Just… take a chance to ease the pain found in one person’s soul… Why wouldn’t you?

Thank you for your time and goodnight.