From left, Gavin Buttar, Ishika Gill and Sumeet Sandhu greet the audience during the speech and fashion show at the Oliver Community Centre. Photo by Lyonel Doherty
Many people are scared to death of speaking in front of an audience, but Oliver’s new Ambassador candidates make it look easy.
Gavin Buttar, Ishika Gill and Sumeet Sandhu delivered nearly flawless speeches last week, and all by memory at a special function that included a fashion show at the Oliver Community Centre.
Sandhu said everyone has dreams that they want to come true, but sometimes those dreams get lost or given up over time.
“What people need to realize is that life isn’t just about getting by and making money, it’s about living in the moment . . .”
Sandhu asked: What would you rather have, a long miserable life doing a job you hate and despise, or a shorter life doing a job you care about and love?
She said dreams are meant to be pursued, not given up on.
“When you give up on a dream it feels like life itself is completely full of regret.”
Albert Einstein once said: “You never fail until you stop trying.”
If you want to walk on water, that’s unrealistic, Sandhu said. But if you want to become a poet, singer, doctor, dancer or even find the cure to cancer, that’s realistic.
While it’s unrealistic for a cow to jump over the moon, Neil Armstrong’s dream was to walk on the moon and he accomplished it, so why can’t you accomplish your dream? Sandhu asked.
“Don’t ever tell yourself there isn’t something you can’t do. Almost everything we have today was created by a dream. You never know, your dream could be the greatest accomplishment of the whole entire human race.”
Sandhu said the key to following your dreams is courage.
“Without it all you’ll be is a lost dreamer. Don’t waste your life living someone else’s dream.”
The fact is when you start working towards your dreams you’ll never want to come back.
“Don’t let the people who were too fearful of pursuing their dreams stop you from pursuing your own,” Sandhu said.
At the end, you don’t need other people to believe in you, all you need is you to believe in you.
Gill told everyone in the audience that they are beautiful.
She completely disagreed with Google’s definition of beauty: a combination of qualities, such as shape, colour or form that pleases the aesthetic senses.
“I believe beauty is more than skin deep. What does that mean? It means your inner qualities, attitudes, and personalities are what make you truly beautiful.”
Gill said everyone in the audience was strong, powerful, gorgeous, and brave, and all those qualities need no cover up.
She quoted fashion designer Coco Chanel who said that beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.
And award winning physicist Stephen Hawking said, “Without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.”
Gill said Chanel and Hawking believed in nonconformity and being truly who you are. “In this constantly evolving world, all you can be is genuinely you because you have a beautiful mind, heart, and soul,” said the 14 year old.
Gill said she asked a man what his definition of beauty was, and he said, “Beauty is something appealing to the eyes.”
Then she asked two women what their definition was: one said beauty is peace, and the other said beauty is something from within that radiates out.
“So for every one man that cares about a woman’s outer beauty, there are two women who love their inner beauty,” Gill said.
She pointed out that everyone is “perfectly imperfect” and should embrace their flaws because they are what make people truly beautiful and truly human.
Buttar looked into the audience and noted so many different people from so many different backgrounds. He said in order to see who we really are, it’s important to be ourselves.
Buttar questioned the meaning of diversity. Is it something you wear? Something you eat? Or something you believe in?
Well, it can be all of those things.
“I believe that diversity is being yourself, it sounds extremely corny but it’s true. Many people are trying so hard to be like everyone else because they feel insecure with themselves.”
Buttar said if you’re not being yourself then you don’t know who you are. As a guy by the name of Colin Wright says, “It’s not your responsibility to want the life others want for you.”
Buttar said girls should be allowed to like video games and not shave their legs, and guys should be allowed to enjoy dolls and pretty clothing.
“I’m not going to say that everyone will accept it. There are so many people wanting to tear others down because they disagree with what I’m here to talk about. But If you think about it there’s not one thing in this world that every single person agrees with.”
Buttar encouraged people to be what they want to be, but he draws the line on bullying.
He said the only reason why someone would want to hurt others is because they are so uncomfortable with themselves.
Buttar said he embraced what made him different from others, noting it doesn’t take much to go from sticking out to standing out.
“I believe that just being yourself is one of the most diverse things you can be, because what’s more special than being something no one else can possibly be, and that’s being you.”
By Lyonel Doherty
