A Remarkable History

As I step onto the stage, I take a long gaze at the audience. There are many curious faces that are waiting for someone to venal them. Lot’s of applause and cheers when I set my paper down in the stand in front of me and get the mic ready. Who knows, maybe it could be me to persuade them.

Ok, let’s backtrack a little bit…

Beep boop beep boop.

Hey there. I’m Gilbert. I’m 18 years old. Your average friend as a human. I never thought that I would have the opportunity to do this task, but somehow I did. I’m going to deliver a speech to the public. I have to confess something though. Since my childhood, I was always the quiet type of person. Yet was I an intellectual. And still am one. I spend my nights reading my textbooks and memorizing important topics. During the day, I listen to lectures and teachers doing presentations to show us all the different things. I’m a full fledged introvert. I get straight A’s, and teachers adore me. Some people hate me for my knowledge. But my friends love me for my intelligence. They sometimes use me as a human “cheat sheet”. But it’s fun and all. They always support me. They’re simply the best people on earth. 

My speech won’t be delivered anytime soon. I still have a whole month ahead of me. I have to make my script and memorize it. But I’ve got plenty of time for all that. I’m planning that in the 2 weeks ahead, I will make the script. Once the script is written and edited, I would memorize and rehearse. I’m pretty sure it would be easy with my mega genius brain. But I still have to write my script and need ideas. So I’ll be going on walks to see what people say and do in their daily lives that affect others.

Hello! It’s a beautiful Monday after a night of light showers. It’s a bit chilly, but I can still go out to evaluate. I’m all ready, I just need to get my phone and my jacket. I get my phone from the kitchen counter and yell goodbye to Snarky, my dog, and mum. My dog’s a Golden Retriever. My mum adopted him after my father died. Father died from trying to save a child being kidnapped. The kid was getting taken away from a kidnapper, and my father saw. He leapt into action and tried to tear the child away and run him to a safe place. He managed to get the child and they started to run, but the kidnapper had a gun and shot my father. It was tragic, but what my father did was heroic. We felt a little lonely, so mum got Snarky. I still miss father a lot though. But I’ve got to focus now and get to work. 

As I close the door behind me, I inhale the smell of wet cement. I don’t know why I love the smell of after rain objects. They just smell so...calming. I walk down the stairs by 2’s, and land at the bottom with a big thump. I walk all the way to the stores nearby. Nobody that’s in sight is fighting, which is good, but also a bit bad. That means I won’t have enough information to come up with a good script. I might as well walk around for a while until I find something.

I’ve been walking for 2 hours and can’t see any commotion. To be honest, I feel like a spy looking for a thug to beat someone up. I mean, that is kind of what I need. Anyway, I’m getting really hungry after the walk. I only had oatmeal with cinnamon and apples for breakfast, and I’ve digested it after this long walk. I look around for a cafe that may satisfy my cravings. There are 3 cafes around here in my neighborhood. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I live in Los Angeles, America. I live in the neighborhood Silver Lake. It’s a very pretty area with many trees and a big lake that stretches behind. Mum loves the view, and I have to agree. It’s gorgeous. Especially during the sunrise and sunsets. The sun would gleam on the water’s surface, and the shadow of the palm trees would complete the scene. It’s truly amazing. Oh oops, I side tracked a little bit. Now, I have to choose from the 3 cafes. I pick the one to my right and head right in.

I had to stand in line for 20 minutes. And I’m exhausted now. I ordered a Caramel Brulée Frappuccino. It’s my first time trying it. My friend Jacob told me about it. I’m already in love with it. The sweetness is evened out with the whipped cream on top. It’s irresistible. I scroll down on my phone, looking at TwitFace. As I scroll down, I stumble on a post. It says that a hijabi was harassed in a subway on the way to her destination. The picture showed a guy wearing a mocking face to a covered woman. The picture itself just irked me. I didn’t even want to read what the news said. I wrote a long comment on that post, giving them a piece of my mind. I hope that the person who did this can see what I wrote and feel sorry. Within a few minutes, I had gotten 213 likes and 10 comments. Wow. I love all of those people who liked the comment. I take a quick note of the news on my phone and finish up the last few sips of my drink. When I’m ready to go, I see a flash go off in the corner of my eye. I look around to see what it was, but I couldn’t find anything. Ignoring it, I walk straight out of the cafe and walk all the way back home.

It’s 1 in the early morning. I’ve spent 3 and a half hours trying to write my script. I’m really tired, but I keep myself awake by watching some entertaining videos, texting my friends (yes, they’re still awake at this time) or snacking on some popcorn. But I’ve gotten really tired now, so I’ll talk to you in the morning. See you!

Heyyyy! Wow that sounds like something Jacob would say. He’s so bubbly and makes you happy whenever you’re around him. Speaking of Jacob, I’m heading over to his house. All of our friends are going to meet at his house, then we’ll go for a drive somewhere. Only Jacob knows where though because he planned it all. I have to get there in 30 minutes, so I better get ready. I pick out a pair of shorts since it’s a sunny day, and a tropical tee shirt to match with the weather. I spray on some perfume and find a piece of fruit gum under my stash of books. As I chew the gum, waiting for the flavour to burst in my mouth. I gel my hair in its proper place, at least where I would like it. I grab my phone and kiss mother goodbye. I creep up behind Snarky as he’s busy with his tail. I scare him, and he jumps up. He shoots me a glare, which makes me laugh. He’s just like a real human. That’s the best thing about him. He wags his tail and sticks out his tongue. I give him a kiss on his head and make my way to the door. 

“Heyyyy!”

I was correct about it.

“H’lo to you too Mr. Jac.”

“What’s poppin?”

“Nothing much. I’m preparing for the speech. You?”

“Same here. I’m almost done with my script.”

“Oh, lucky you. I only got like 2 or 3 paragraphs down.”

“Can I help with anything though?”

“Mmm… maybe. I need some help gathering information.”

“I can help you with that after our trip, is that okay? We could also walk around the area and search for problems.”

“Sure man. Thanks.”

“Anytime bro.”

We hear hollering behind us. I turn around to see that all our other friends have arrived. We greet each other and ask how they’re doing. It feels good to be surrounded by the people that you love. Jacob walks toward his car, and we follow him. We have 7 people altogether. Ethan, Jacob, Max, Tempus, Alex, Nathan and me. Jacob’s car is an 8 seater. We all fight on who sits at the back with who, while Jacob settles himself in the driver's seat. After 2 minutes of deciding, we settled that Max and Ethan would sit at the very back, and Nathan, Tempus, and Alex would sit behind the driver and passenger seat. Which meant I had the front. We all sit on our seats. Once we’re all ready to go, Jacob rolls the car forward and we start our journey to our destination. 

After about an hour of loud music, snacking and talking, we arrive. Jacob had brought us downtown. None of us have ever been downtown, but Jacob has. It’s like Jacob’s been everywhere in California. If I were to role who is what amongst us, I would say Jacob is the popular guy, Max is the gamer guy, Tempus is the joker, Nathan is the chill one, Ethan is the partier, Alex is the one who’s usually late, and then there’s me. The walking genius. We all exit the car and gaze around. We all huddle up into a group, asking each other what we should do. Jacob whistles and we all turn to him. He looks at us with a big grin on his face and tells us he will lead us somewhere. And so, we follow him again into the busy area, and begin our journey to tour around downtown.

All of us stick in a group. Nobody separates from one another, so it makes us look like we’re just like the others. We walk around for a while, until we come upon a big building. It’s a mall. You could hear people yelling and the smell of different sweet and savoury foods. All together, we walk in and see what beautiful things there are. Literally all the shops you could think of. Spa’s, a food court, clothing stores, jewelry stores, mens and womens stores, basically everything. 

“Let’s head for some ice cream or frozen yogurt first.” Jacob says.

We all nod and walk to the right. In front of us there’s a corner store that has bright lights with pink and white striped walls. There are teenagers and adults getting ice cream and froyo. We all head towards that direction and get in line. Our turn doesn't take long to, and we all order. We all order separate ice cream flavours and wait for them to get ready. One by one, our orders come at us. When we get our orders, we head in different directions in groups of 2. Alex offers to go by himself, but Nathan and Max take him hostage, forming a truddy. Jacob and I head in a separate direction together. It’s not long until Jacob got what he wanted. A scene. 

There’s a group of white guys building over 3 teenage girls. The girls have a totally different race, which shouldn’t make a difference at all. The girls have dark brown hair that is in braids, and each of them carry a backpack with them. The girl in the middle is yelling something at the boys, while the others beside her hide behind. Jacob starts moving towards them, and I follow. Fury burns inside of me. As we approach the group, the guys turn their attention to us. They hunch their shoulders tight and more forward to make them look tough. It brings a little doubt in me that I would be able to do anything to help, but it’s worth a shot. 

“Back off.” Jacob says with his hands balled and his eyes narrowed.

“You can get out of this. Since when did you want to interfere with people older than you?”

“Since I was born,” I shoot back, trying to shield Jacob. 

“Oh come on, scram you skinny wimp.”

“You can’t tell me what to do.”

“Nice comeback. But nobody really cares about what you say.”

“Oh come on, get a new comeback instead of nobody cares.”

The guy who seems to be the leader and is doing most of the talking seems annoyed. He balls his hands into fists. The girls are staring at us, unsure what to do. Jacob does some movement, and the girls nod and run the opposite direction. Whew. 

“Dude, you’re not my kind-”

“Since when did you decide who is and who isn’t your kind?”

The guy seems a bit shocked. His shoulders fall. I wonder why. His face turns all white. He’s looking at something behind me. I look back to see a man. A man in a blue suit that says security. Security. I can’t believe it. We got so much attention in just a few minutes and we didn’t even notice. Everything after that goes blank…

A few weeks later…

Hey guys. Today’s the day. I’m doing my speech! I’m so excited. I am actually already at the speech area, because it’s about to start. And the best thing is, I’m first on the list. Meanwhile, I’ll tell you what I’m wearing. I’m wearing a white dress shirt with a suit that mum got for me. I have my hair styled to the right, just how mum wanted it to. I have my script and I have it all memorized. I’m really excited and a bit nervous. I feel... voorpret. As I think and think on how to get rid of the excitement, a shadow casts upon me. When I look up, I see my friends towering above me with big smiles worn. We talk to each other for a while, until places are called.

As I step onto the stage, I take a long gaze at the audience. There are many curious faces that are waiting for someone to venal them. Lot’s of applause and cheers when I set my paper down in the stand in front of me and get the mic ready. Who knows, maybe it could be me to persuade them. 

“Good afternoon audience. My name is Gilbert, and I’m 18 years old. I am here to convey my speech and spread awareness. My topic is all about ALM. All lives matter. Now, I want you to have a moment of thinking. Have you ever experienced being bullied or getting attacked just because of your race? Sadly, many people have. Unfortunately, there are things out there like that. None of us have the right to judge anyone just because of how they look, or their culture. We all have different skin colours, different cultures, different beliefs, et cetera. We’re all unique in our own ways. But guess what? We’re all here, in the same world, same place, made up with the same things, and share the same air. So treat everyone equally. Nobody has anywhere else to go, other than staying here on earth, trying to move to spaces where they could find peace. And yet, some people still have to go through the same thing again. We need to act as a whole community to support each other, to help each other with our losses, to stand up for each other, and to be one! We can’t continue to live on like this! We have to do something to make this world a better place! The reality of the world is sometimes bitter, but let’s make that bitterness into sweetness. This may be a weird example, but the people who I tell this to find it useful. Think of the world as a cup of coffee. Coffee is bitter, isn’t it? Now, let’s put in some sugar to make it sweet. Think that each one of the granules is one of you guys. When you’re put into that cup of coffee, the world, you make it sweet, right? Your coffee is sweet now. And this is how we can make our world sweet. Each one of us can do something that can change the world. It doesn't have to be big, but it can also be small. Because, when you pour your sugar into your coffee, each little granule makes it a tiny bit sweeter. Altogether, we can make the world sweeter and a better place to live. Now, who agrees with me?”

Hundreds of hands shoot up. I can’t help myself, but I break a wide grin. I search the crowd to see my mum smiling and in tears, while my friends are cheering for me. We can all do something to make this world better. All of us can make a difference, no matter what age. We are unique, and bold. Nobody can stop anyone from what their dreams are. You matter. We all do.