The
Always Optimistic Man
Stanley
S. Berman
A
speech by Jennifer M. Nelson
Helen
Keller once said “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can
be done without hope and confidence.”
This quote sums up my grandpa Stan’s life and outlook on it. My grandpa grew up poor but with optimism and
faith that he could be something more became quite successful in life. Three things my grandpa has taught me are to
be a hard worker, to always be optimistic, and to seek adventure.
My grandfather has had
to work hard his whole life. He grew up
in Brooklyn, New York during the great depression knowing life wouldn’t be easy.
His parents worked constantly and he helped out as much as he could with his
family’s candy luncheonette store. When
he graduated from high school at the age of seventeen he knew he wanted to get
away from the New York atmosphere, to some place less competitive and with less
concrete. He craved a more rural environment, leading him to move to Forest
Grove, Oregon, where he entered Pacific University with the ambition to become
an optometrist. It took five and a half
years and a lot of work, but with a lot of hard work he got through it himself,
tuition and all. He was the spitting image of the American Dream, pulling
himself into success by his own bootstraps.
He also did a lot of other ambitious things with his life. After he started his own practice and had
some money saved he invested in a lot of property, usually apartments and again
with a lot of hard work made them successful and came out with more than he
started with. Today he still owns a lot
of properties, they are mainly mini storages.
He has always worked hard for what he wants and a phrase he has often
told me through my life and that reflects his life is that “anything worthwhile
is hard.”
Something else I admire
in my grandfather, shown through his actions and words, is his ability to
always have a positive attitude. I have
never heard him say one negative thing.
He always sees the glass as half full and he has told me that it has
always been that way. He has also told
me that for some reason once he made up his mind to do something he never had
any doubts that he wouldn’t achieve it.
In his last year of college he had no money for food or tuition but he
got up the guts to go in front of the administration and ask for a loan which
wasn’t very common then. They agreed to
it. He still had to borrow money from
his uncle and one of his roommates to get through that year but succeeded in
finishing college and as soon as he could, paid them back. He always knew there would be hard work and
obstacles in life and that life isn’t always easy, yet he possessed the ability
to look past the difficulties to the positive impact that he would have on the
world around him.
My grandfather is the
most adventurous and active person I know.
He has been all over the world and he is also very athletic which has
allowed him keep traveling throughout the years. In the last sixty years he has been to six
continents and over 30 countries as well as to every state in America and every
province in Canada. He is an avid
outdoors man. He loves to hike, swim,
ski, fish, bike, sail, and much more. He
is still in great shape despite a knee and hip replacement as well as
seventy-nine soon to be eighty years of life.
Every day he isn’t on an adventure he works out and he is stronger than
most the boys I know my age. He seeks to
live a full life; to experience all there is to see, witness, feel, taste,
hear, and know in this world.
My grandpa is truly my
greatest inspiration and encourager and I am so grateful for him and proud to
be his granddaughter. He has taught me
about the importance of hard work, optimism, and adventure. He is a man that counts himself very lucky
for everything in his life and knows that he has earned it. Helen Keller once said “Optimism
is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and
confidence.”
1.
I feel my speech went well although I needed some more eye contact.
2. I could have improved my speech by adding more stories to make it more relate-able and give it more feeling.
3. I really liked Marlene and Jonathon's speeches. They either left me crying or on the brink of it. I also enjoyed Madison and Madelyn's speeches.
4. Once again I could do better at
delivery but this time also content.
5. I need to stop looking down when I get nervous.
6. I practiced saying it to a lot of my
friends and looked in the book when I got stuck.
