kieran's speech | {invisible string}
Aug 28, 2020 22:31:32 GMT -5
Post by kait but as dars on Aug 28, 2020 22:31:32 GMT -5
"I’ve probably written this speech a dozen times over, forcing my father, and my aunt, and my beautiful wife, Paige, to read draft after draft. My children have been a captive audience, and as much as I would love to say that, by the end of it, they were so moved by my words that they stood and applauded, the truth is that they usually either fell asleep or started playing with one of their toys.
"But it got me thinking. Children are truly the most innocent of us, aren’t they? They’ve never started any wars, or lied, or cheated, or stolen. And yet even still, they are entirely at our mercy. Sure, we do our best as their parents, their mentors, their teachers. We protect them. We feed them. We fight for them. But the devastating truth is that sometimes, we fail.
"District Ten’s educational programs have been structured to create hard working individuals so that they may grow up and work, own, or operate farms and ranches, our District’s main export. And we have been successful. It has been under my own family’s leadership that District Ten has soared to new heights in terms of producing new farmlands.
"We’ve nearly doubled our yearly yield, sent workers all over the country to bring back farmlands on the brink of ruin, and even managed to reduce Panem’s rate of hunger by 10% in the last two years alone, a rate that I would love to see continuing to grow.
"Some people are just gifted at what we do here. Some people strive to be good. But what about the rest? As fantastic as our educational system is at creating good laborers, the truth is that a gopher will always be better at digging a hole than an ostrich. So many brilliant minds are left unused, undeveloped, and most importantly, unmotivated.
"I have no intention of changing the integrity of this, our home, of which I am so very proud to be a part of. But upon my election, my first move will be to rewrite the fabric of what we allow our children to become. Panem has changed. No longer are we confined to the few specific areas of job placements that were once available to us. A child may grow up and become an excellent doctor somewhere in District Six. They may have the natural eye required to create District One’s jewelry. They may even find themselves in the Capitol, making it big as a fancy architect. And maybe they’ll think it is best to stay here and do what we, as a whole, do best. What is important is that they have the options that we, the people whose job it is to provide for them, only wish we could have had.
"My name is Kieran Emberstatt. Let me give the children a choice."
"But it got me thinking. Children are truly the most innocent of us, aren’t they? They’ve never started any wars, or lied, or cheated, or stolen. And yet even still, they are entirely at our mercy. Sure, we do our best as their parents, their mentors, their teachers. We protect them. We feed them. We fight for them. But the devastating truth is that sometimes, we fail.
"District Ten’s educational programs have been structured to create hard working individuals so that they may grow up and work, own, or operate farms and ranches, our District’s main export. And we have been successful. It has been under my own family’s leadership that District Ten has soared to new heights in terms of producing new farmlands.
"We’ve nearly doubled our yearly yield, sent workers all over the country to bring back farmlands on the brink of ruin, and even managed to reduce Panem’s rate of hunger by 10% in the last two years alone, a rate that I would love to see continuing to grow.
"Some people are just gifted at what we do here. Some people strive to be good. But what about the rest? As fantastic as our educational system is at creating good laborers, the truth is that a gopher will always be better at digging a hole than an ostrich. So many brilliant minds are left unused, undeveloped, and most importantly, unmotivated.
"I have no intention of changing the integrity of this, our home, of which I am so very proud to be a part of. But upon my election, my first move will be to rewrite the fabric of what we allow our children to become. Panem has changed. No longer are we confined to the few specific areas of job placements that were once available to us. A child may grow up and become an excellent doctor somewhere in District Six. They may have the natural eye required to create District One’s jewelry. They may even find themselves in the Capitol, making it big as a fancy architect. And maybe they’ll think it is best to stay here and do what we, as a whole, do best. What is important is that they have the options that we, the people whose job it is to provide for them, only wish we could have had.
"My name is Kieran Emberstatt. Let me give the children a choice."
