We Will Prosper | Kennedy's Speech

There's a fear that divides people from their own hopes and wants.

There's a strength that comes from a single name.

There's a love that comes from the passionate.

There's a nervous man to the fear of being last up to speak.

Feet drag him to the stage with a nervous gulp.

Notes in hand from the night before when Ma and Pa were up all night letting him practice the words.

There's a fear in every man and woman of losing their words.

He's lost every single one in a matter of one games.

"I prepared a speech for y'all about what I wanted to do as mayor, but now that I am looking at it. It doesn't sound like me at all. Let's forget this and just let me speak from the bottom of my heart for all of you."

Notes float away into the dirt of District Ten.

"As a boy, I was always so easily angered. There was always a place I would go to calm down. A place that was my own and it still is to this day, even though, I am pretty sure my family all knows where it is. It's a pretty stream that cuts through the fields behind my house. This is where I found my peace from the world we live in. Every day I would sneak to that creek, with my horse, we'd spend all day there. I would spend most afternoons cleaning it up from things people would leave behind. I learned that our district isn't do much about waste. Where do we put it? Lots of trash piles up over time, some of us burn it, others leave it somewhere to decompose, but I want to make a system to help deal with the waste. District Ten is a beautiful district that deserves to be preserved for the people who come after us."

A smile fills his face as he speaks more.

Riven Fowley would be proud of the man her brother was going to be.

Win or lose.

He did it for himself.

"You can pick any of us. Mace. Willow. Me. Any of us would make fantastic mayors I believe,
but you need to look at everything. Mace is a victor of District Ten, some would say that's great for being mayor as he has direct contact with the capitol, but at the same time. Do you want your mayor to be gone while the games are going on? What if something dire happened while he was gone? A victor isn't what we need for a mayor. The type of mayor we need is someone who is going to be in District Ten the entire time. A mayor who is here for the people. We all have hope for the district. We all hold onto hope for as long as we can, but it's about time we put hope aside for action. Hold onto hope, but also do something about it. I want to hear what the people of ten have to say. I want to hear what District Ten wants done. I want to help the hard workers who need better roads and more help when it comes to the hot season. I want to help the people who are suffering on our streets because they can't find anywhere else to go. I want to be a man of action rather than the words that we speak."

Hands fold as he stares into the crowd.

"Through it all, District Ten has survived years and years of agony. Floods, droughts, and watching children in the games fight for their lives. I want to be the man who is there for all of District Ten. I will promise you all, that I will be a kind man, but firm in our actions. We will not be pushed away. We will prosper. Our district will become better for the people now and the children of the future. We will make District Ten a place where people will be able to live with smiles on their faces. I want to make District Ten into something great. Something that can be heard all across Panem. This is my promise, District Ten."

A pause and a breath of air.

"We will prosper."