My Grandfather Speech

This time around it was more unconceivable and included all the emotions that come with losing a loved one. I was only 16 years old trying to make it through high school. This is a time when losing a friend doesn't even seem feasible. A good friend of mine died of a drug overdose. I was in denial when I was told of Chino's death. Everything seemed so unreal as if someone was playing a cruel joke on me. His death affected me and the way I looked at friendship. It helped me cherish those around me because I never knew when I would lose someone else who meant so much to me again. A lot of our friends attended his funeral and there were a lot of tears shed. The fear of losing a close friend soon came again. In 2006 at the age of twenty-five one of my first love died due to a road rage incident. The vehicle he was riding in went over a bridge and landed in a body of water. The other two individuals he was with made it out alive, but he lost his fight shortly after arriving to the hospital. I felt so much anger, my emotions were everywhere and unpredictable. Due to some issues we had not talked for a while but had recently reconnected. There were a lot of unspoken words that we never had the chance to share and for the longest time I lived with so much regret for the way things stood between us at his time of death. It has

William E. Gladstone states” Justice delayed is justice denied.” Meaning when justice is not served in a timely manner, it means you receive any justice at all. In the” I have dream” speech by Martin Luther King Jr. he talks about the injustice people of color were receiving in the 1940s-60s. “Cairo: My city or Revolution” by Ahdaf Soueif tells of a family who lives under the rule of a dictator. And the story “Lolita in Tehran” by Azar Nafisi and talks about a woman in Tehran being discriminated against because of her gender. All of these texts give us instances where people were being denied freedom. I believe that freedom should be demanded rather than being given.

Honestly, both my mom and I--whenever we watch you--I know you haven't done all the plastic surgery stuff, but you look incredible. And I know it's not just the physical. You have lots of joy and happiness with what you're doing, and you have that inner light that radiates out.

The United States had struggled with racism and segregation for many years before 1963. However, Martin Luther King Jr had a global goal to end racism and segregation. In the I Have a Dream speech by Martin Luther King Jr, the speech was given on August 28th, 1963 in front of countless African Americans fighting for their right to freedom. Martin Luther King Jr’s argument utilizes diction, imagery, and similes to demand that America needs to change the social norms that have developed over time.

However, one character in my life was never ordinary; in fact, he was the exact definition of extraordinary. My “papaw” became my favorite playmate, my other half, and my best friend. We were commonly referred to as "two peas in a pod" and " each other's pride and joy." I loved my grandpa in the deepest, most sincere way a young child could. As I grew older, my grandpa assumed the role of my confidant and supporter. When my grandmother would scold me or when my sister and I would argue, I knew that I could retreat into the loving arms of my grandfather. The only thing that he ever did to upset me was when he said, "When I go, I'll miss everyone, but I'll miss you the most, Bug." Little did I know, I would soon long to hear these

The experience of a person losing a loved one is very difficult to accept and then cope with. “He gets all teary telling about the good times they had together, how her brother made the war seem almost fun.” pg. 67-68 (Tim O’Brien). Losing someone close to you is hard to accept because once their gone things don’t feel the same anymore and you just can’t stop thinking about them and the memories you guys shared together. It’s also very hard to cope with because you’re so used to having that person around and when their no longer there you feel so empty and that feeling is so horrible. Having to deal with the fact that someone who was so special to you is no longer there isn’t easy to accept.

I come from a big family with many loving aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. As I was standing there all alone I thought back to the time when I got to spend a week with Fran. Almost a year ago to the date, most of the family was together for my other uncle's wedding. All the cousins sat at the same table and we had such a good time together. He was a busy person, he

Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address was given during a time of crisis. The Southern states feared their newly elected President would soon take their way of life from them, and they would do everything to stop it. The South threatened secession and began electing their own leaders and creating a new constitution. Knowing this would certainly lead to war, in his address Lincoln said, “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies” (Lincoln). Lincoln knew that war would tear the country apart, and he wanted to prevent that. As he prepared to give the speech, he kept quiet, but others turned around his silence. Many said he was the reason the Union was divided. In preparing for his speech he knew

A famous speech I have heard and read was the Martin Luther King Jr. I have a dream speech. It will always be known as one of the greatest speeches to go down in history. The quote "I have a dream" was used several times in the speech. I believe it was effective because it ties to the desires shared by many Americans. It also was a quote that allowed listeners to visualize what it could be like if that dream was a reality.

Grandpa is almost ninety-five and now resides in a nursing home. The leg he fractured forty years ago is too weak to carry his weight. His eyes are going bad. But to me he's still the big, strong man who used to take his grandchild in his arms and rock to

When I was a kid, my super hero was Superman, I kind of admired him because I thought it would be cool to be able to fly and to have super-human strength, but the main reason why I liked Superman is because he helped people, no matter what.

For many people, Grandpa is a storyteller, someone to go fishing with, and someone who has your back no matter what. The experience I had with my grandpa was a little different. I never got the opportunity to meet my great-grandfather Liston Grider, but he still somehow managed to have a huge impact on my life. Sometimes my mom would tell stories about him; happy memories from her childhood, sad ones that were painful for her to tell, and everything in between. I thought I had heard it all, but this past summer I learned something about my great grandpa that would perhaps impact my life forever. This story was not told by my mom like usual, but by someone who was a complete stranger to me. The lessons I learned would not be taught in a single day, but over the span of a month through a series of Facebook messages and letters in the mail. The words I read upon opening those messages and letters would change my life forever, permanently transform my beliefs, and show me what it truly means to be an American.

My great grandfather Bob Howell, who we called Papa Bob, was one of the greatest men ever in my opinion. He taught us many things, from how to treat one another to how to get through life accomplishing many things. Not too long ago he had experienced a fall. My cousins were outside doing yard work and had came in to get a drink, when the youngest heard someone. She saw papa Bob laying on the ground of his bathroom floor, and ran to get her sister. I got a call from her saying that she couldn 't get a hold of any of our parents. I started to panic and called my parents over and over until my dad answered. Papa Bob made it to the hospital, had scans done and got checked upped, but they said he was fine. As months went by he was never quite himself again, I blamed it on the fall secretly, but the doctors never found anything. It was getting worse and worse until he was put in the hospital. I knew his time was coming and I tried to spend time with him and listen to his stories when I could.

Now I can say that I had never understood others suffering from a bad loss of a dear person.  I would hate to hear that anybody died. When this happened to me, when my dear mother died, I started to understand all those people who lost someone they loved. There are perhaps no proper words to describe this pain, This intolerable pain which tears you apart, which is like a stone on your heart, and which make tears run down your face with each moment spent with the dear person who passed away. Time is unlikely to pass so fast this hurt, no matter what others claim.

When we were together we were invincible, us against the world. I’d look up to him, not only because he was 6’4, but because he was my grandpa. I have clear memories of him picking me up from school, playing old school reggae music during our adventurous car rides. We’d always sing along to our favorites, sometimes turn the music up so loud the people in the cars next to us could hear it. When I would visit his apartment, the familiar smell of drywall and pennies would fill the air. It was my hideaway, my home away from home. My grandpa collected pennies in water jugs. He would say that one day they’d be worth more than just pennies. I loved it there, not only because he had a freezer filled with many flavors of ice cream to which he would often say to me “you can have all you can eat” but because it was our time to bond. For five years it was my mom, my dad, and my grandpa helping me to grow. Those are my favorite people, my role models. Being around my grandpa brought me such comfort and joy.