e pluribus unum | shiv's speech
Sept 4, 2020 11:54:06 GMT -5
Post by 🌱 kaitlin. on Sept 4, 2020 11:54:06 GMT -5
SHIV IRVINE
The crowd is alive, bright with excitement.
Beyond the curtain, Shiv can see the crowd is an array of faces, young and old, factory weary and factory managers, men in pressed suits knocking elbows with women who spend their days taking care of their children.
It makes Shiv's heart swell.
She couldn't deny it even if she wanted to.
When she walks out onto the stage, she lifts her hand to wave, smiles to the crowd, broad and bright, the skin around her eyes crinkling. She just stands at the podium for a moment, letting the crowd be excited, cheering for her. "Well, hello there!" she says into the mic finally. "Fancy seeing you all here!" It's playful and kind and she knows that the district has loved her less than playful sister and as much as Shiv is here to be serious, here because she has things she needs to say, she also knows that a little bit of kindness goes a long way.
"Tonight is a particular honor for me," she begins, settling her smile and squaring her shoulders once and for all as the crowd begins to quiet down and allow her this moment. "Standing here on this stage, this was never the place I saw my life heading. As I am sure many of you know by now, politics was always my sister's dream, not mine. I worked in the refinery for years, worked to create change at the local level through private channels rather than in the public eye. I enjoyed being beholden to my people rather than having to manage the interests of the people with the interests of Panem, with big businesses and their bottom line. I used to think that politics was a waste of my time, that I'd never be able to get things done from inside the system, that those inside were never going to understand the plight of the people outside it, people like all of you. But after my husband died and I decided to take a step back from the private sector at the same time my sister told me she wouldn't be seeking re-election, it felt like all the pieces falling into place. I truly began to feel that my time in the private sector would make me uniquely qualified to fight for you all from the inside."
She isn't here to be queen.
She wants to be here because they want her to be here, because as far as she has clung and climbed, she knows that she is one of them. She was not always the powerful woman in the corner office; there was a time when she was at the bottom of the ladder, too.
"From my time in the refinery, I know what it's like to work long hours, have seen first hand people doing back breaking work for not enough pay, and I fought long and hard to make that change at the local level. As your mayor, I'm going to do everything in my power to continue to lower the unemployment rate, create new and better paid jobs for the good people of Nine. Beyond that, I want the conditions you all work in to be better still, want to improve the infrastructure you are forced to work inside of, do what I can to help you all lead safer, healthier lives."
She tries to look in the eyes of all those trained on her.
"This city would be nothing with its workers. You are Nine's backbone, the reason any of us have any income at all, and you deserve to be treated as such."
She pauses one final time, lets that settle.
"Now, you all know that even as I stand here, there are those out there preparing to try and be divisive, those that are going to try and tear me down. The negative ad peddlers. The spin master. People who would seek to embrace an 'anything goes' mentality and ignore the people in this district who needs help. But I'd like to say to them this: the only way to continue to better ourselves is to do it together.
"E pluribus unum," she says finally. "Out of the many, one." She pauses, stares into the crowd, unsmiling. A force of nature asking to fight for her people. "I'd like to be your one, Nine, if you will have me. Thank you, and good night."
Beyond the curtain, Shiv can see the crowd is an array of faces, young and old, factory weary and factory managers, men in pressed suits knocking elbows with women who spend their days taking care of their children.
It makes Shiv's heart swell.
She couldn't deny it even if she wanted to.
When she walks out onto the stage, she lifts her hand to wave, smiles to the crowd, broad and bright, the skin around her eyes crinkling. She just stands at the podium for a moment, letting the crowd be excited, cheering for her. "Well, hello there!" she says into the mic finally. "Fancy seeing you all here!" It's playful and kind and she knows that the district has loved her less than playful sister and as much as Shiv is here to be serious, here because she has things she needs to say, she also knows that a little bit of kindness goes a long way.
"Tonight is a particular honor for me," she begins, settling her smile and squaring her shoulders once and for all as the crowd begins to quiet down and allow her this moment. "Standing here on this stage, this was never the place I saw my life heading. As I am sure many of you know by now, politics was always my sister's dream, not mine. I worked in the refinery for years, worked to create change at the local level through private channels rather than in the public eye. I enjoyed being beholden to my people rather than having to manage the interests of the people with the interests of Panem, with big businesses and their bottom line. I used to think that politics was a waste of my time, that I'd never be able to get things done from inside the system, that those inside were never going to understand the plight of the people outside it, people like all of you. But after my husband died and I decided to take a step back from the private sector at the same time my sister told me she wouldn't be seeking re-election, it felt like all the pieces falling into place. I truly began to feel that my time in the private sector would make me uniquely qualified to fight for you all from the inside."
She isn't here to be queen.
She wants to be here because they want her to be here, because as far as she has clung and climbed, she knows that she is one of them. She was not always the powerful woman in the corner office; there was a time when she was at the bottom of the ladder, too.
"From my time in the refinery, I know what it's like to work long hours, have seen first hand people doing back breaking work for not enough pay, and I fought long and hard to make that change at the local level. As your mayor, I'm going to do everything in my power to continue to lower the unemployment rate, create new and better paid jobs for the good people of Nine. Beyond that, I want the conditions you all work in to be better still, want to improve the infrastructure you are forced to work inside of, do what I can to help you all lead safer, healthier lives."
She tries to look in the eyes of all those trained on her.
"This city would be nothing with its workers. You are Nine's backbone, the reason any of us have any income at all, and you deserve to be treated as such."
She pauses one final time, lets that settle.
"Now, you all know that even as I stand here, there are those out there preparing to try and be divisive, those that are going to try and tear me down. The negative ad peddlers. The spin master. People who would seek to embrace an 'anything goes' mentality and ignore the people in this district who needs help. But I'd like to say to them this: the only way to continue to better ourselves is to do it together.
"E pluribus unum," she says finally. "Out of the many, one." She pauses, stares into the crowd, unsmiling. A force of nature asking to fight for her people. "I'd like to be your one, Nine, if you will have me. Thank you, and good night."
