Valedictorian Tosses School-Approved Speech and Speaks Out

by Pam Wohlschlegel

This morning I was catching up on local, state and national news when I read an article that prompted me to write this post.  The article was about an heroic young man who, upon taking the podium to give his valedictorian speech, promptly tore up his “school-approved” speech.  What followed was a tribute to his parents for his God-loving upbringing and ultimately, he recited the Lord’s Prayer.  The audience gave him a huge ovation, clapping and cheering, probably to the horror of the school administration.

Obviously, keeping God’s name out of the entire graduation ceremony was not the choice of the majority of the parents and students . . . but of some bureaucrats or elected officials who created rules based on the voice of a very few.

This brings me to the importance of self-govenance.  We must bring decision-making and legislating down to the people that are most affected by the policies.  In this case, I believe that the parents and the students should have been allowed to vote on what was allowed or disallowed in the graduation program.  Allowing them to make the decision would create a state of “self-governance”. . .where the answer to “Who decides?” is that it is “we, the citizens”!

Lastly, we proponents of self governance must applaud this young man.  He is my hero and I hope he is yours!   We must let all our friends and family know about his heroism so that other young people will be willing to stand up for their beliefs!    His name is Roy Costner IV and here is a video of his speech:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nIr4zBz18E&feature=player_embedded.

What are your thoughts on this?