We the People

This past weekend(Thursday after school until Monday), I flew to Indiana to participate in the National American Leagion Oratorical Competition. There, I met 52 absurdly talented highschoolers, one from each state, plus D.C, France, and Puerto Rico. It was an experience I will never forget. At first I felt extremely intimidated to make conversation, afraid to make a fool out of myself. But I was pleasantly surprised how eager they were to make friends.

Infortunately I didn't make it out of the quarter final rounds. In each quarter final group, there were six states. The winner from my group was a guy from Nebraska. I never got to hear any of the speakers from my group, but I was sure that each of them were all exceptional for they needed to win their own state competition to be entered in this one.

I remember sitting in the waiting room, where we practiced our speeches before we were called to deliver our first speech. There were some who stood at a corner, franctically going over their speech, but the vast majority was engaging in a conversation among the people in their group. I remember hearing a bunch of people arguing over the credibility of some political candidate I have never even heard of. It seemed like everyone knew exactly who he was and what things he did. I felt such an overwhelming respect for everyone in the room.

I felt proud to be standing or even in the presence of our Nation's future leaders. I was in awe of their amazing wisdom, proficiency in speech, and the fact that they were just teenagers. On Saturday night, there was a Pizza party for the participants, where we danced and karaoked. I expected this group to be nerdy, weird, and "uncool". But I was wrong. These people danced and sang and talked just like anyone of us. And not only could they dance and sing, they could also tell you anything you wanted to know about the constitution.

The winner of this competition was this African American boy from Florida. He was this tall, confident, and humourous boy that could say anything and you would believe it. He called me Hawaii, well everyone called each other by his or her state since it was easier to remember which state they came from than their name, and I felt honored that he remembered me.

This weekend was a memorable one. It confirmed my hopes that this country, or the Union as the people from the south called it, really had people who cared about the constitution of the people, by the people, and for the people.