SPEECH: I stand before the future

Speaker: Izz Mlambo

Event: Ratlhahana/Mmametlhake Matric Dance, 2008

Date: 26 September 2008

Venue: African Cave Lodge, Hammanskraal

I stand before the future


Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Evening, YOUNG LADIES … AND YOUNG GENTLEMEN. All the honourables amongst us tonight, my respects. I’m most honoured myself, and thank the organizers for the lovely opportunity … to speak in front of such glamorous looking people tonight …

but tell you what: only if I knew that it was going to be such
kill-to-dress occasion would I have put on my brilliant tuxedo instead I guess it’s not my night. But guys, I smell the nicest in this hall.

Ladies and gentlemen, when I stand before such young faces, all so glam and beautiful smiles as you are tonight, I truly feel I stand before the future. To me, you guys are the future. Just yesterday I was in matric like you. My whole future right ahead of me: Dreams of my first university degree, dreams of my own company, dreams of my own clothing label, dreams of my debut novel, dreams of my own hotel group, dreams of my own German luxury cars and most importantly, dreams of my own family. And today, I have only entered the first part to such an exciting journey, of hunting down each and every one of those challenging dreams, like a tireless warrior would.

So ladies and gentlemen, the journey, the exciting journey, started yesterday as much as today. Fasten the belt. Tighten up the shoes. Wear securely that hat which is your mind … for tonight … the future is not calling on your teacher. You mother. Your father. Your aunt. Your brother. Your neighbour. Or myself. THE FUTURE IS CALLING ON YOU. The podium of life becomes your stage. The future becomes a blank page before you. What you fill it with, is all up to three things: you, your dreams and sweat.

So adopt a winner mentality for yourself. Your dreams need it. The right attitude. Your dreams need it too.

You know, Lou Holtz was right when he said that:
“Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”

So, go do what you do best. But just make sure, you do it damned well.

Guys, you rock. So please, get on to the spotlight that is life, and dance like a rock star … like Chris Brown. May be like J-Lo. Go win. No small dreams. Only big dreams. With such dreams, I tell you, each day you will wake up to work harder, and more determined simply because your dream is so big, you want to prove to yourself that you can. That you can achieve it. And soon enough, if you work long enough at it, you will be living that dream. Somebody once told me that, you just need to be determined enough, courageous enough, and more aggressive.

Tell you what: … you will fear that you are too small for your big dreams. That who are you to deserve that. But as Nelson Mandela once said:
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he, who does not feel afraid, but he, who conquers that fear.”

So, heroes and heroines of the night, remember that twenty years from tonight, you will be more disappointed with the things you didn’t do, than the things you did. So go on. You are youth, with your whole life ahead of you. BE CRAZY. Set high standards and a few limitations for yourself. You are capable.

Who can tell you otherwise? Who? You ... You guys are
E-X-T-R-A-O-R-D-I-N-A-R-Y. By any measure. Growing up in a dusty village. Challenges right, left and center. Difficulty all round. Parents scrambling to get you a meal, just so that you eat tonight, and wake up for school the next day. And today here you are. The last day of school becomes the first day of a journey of a 1000 miles. A journey to put your name on the map. The name of Pankop on the map. The name of Mmametlhake on the map. So go on. Become that engineer. Become that doctor. Become that novelist, that poet. Become that … … you know, just go be anything but a little person. HELL! be the future itself if needs be.

Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight is not my spotlight. It’s your night. So please, enjoy, and let’s toast to a successful future for everyone please.

THANK YOU


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