The Best Valedectorian Speech

Comment: The following speech was delivered by top of the class student Erica Goldson during the graduation ceremony at Coxsackie-Athens High School on June 25, 2010
“Personally, I hardly knew squat when I left Pharmacy school compared to the way I operate “in practice.”  It was not until I found compounding pharmacy, nutrition, anti-aging science - that not only did a whole new world of right medicine open up to me, I finally got a grasp on what that degree and license was saying I should have been knowing all along.  When I talk to my friends, still in the corner clone, lick stick and pour world of pharmacy - I am amazed at the indoctrination of ignorance which still exists.” Robert on Good Pharmacy Practice
Here I stand
There is a story of a young, but earnest Zen student who approached his teacher, and asked the Master, “If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen? The Master thought about this, then replied, “Ten years . .” ?The student then said, “But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast — How long then?” Replied the Master, “Well, twenty years.” “But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?” asked the student. “Thirty years,” replied the Master. “But, I do not understand,” said the disappointed student. “At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?” ?Replied the Master, “When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path.”
This is the dilemma I’ve faced within the American education system. We are so focused on a goal, whether it be passing a test, or graduating as first in the class. However, in this way, we do not really learn. We do whatever it takes to achieve our original objective.
Some of you may be thinking, “Well, if you pass a test, or become valedictorian, didn’t you learn something? Well, yes, you learned something, but not all that you could have. Perhaps, you only learned how to memorize names, places, and dates to later on forget in order to clear your mind for the next test. School is not all that it can be. Right now, it is a place for most people to determine that their goal is to get out as soon as possible.
I am now accomplishing that goal. I am graduating. I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system. Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contest that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer – not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition – a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker. While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I’m scared.
John Taylor Gatto, a retired school teacher and activist critical of compulsory schooling, asserts, “We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness – curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight simply by being more flexible about time, texts, and tests, by introducing kids into truly competent adults, and by giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then. But we don’t do that.” Between these cinderblock walls, we are all expected to be the same. We are trained to ace every standardized test, and those who deviate and see light through a different lens are worthless to the scheme of public education, and therefore viewed with contempt.
H. L. Mencken wrote in The American Mercury for April 1924 that the aim of public education is not “to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. … Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim … is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States.”
Comment: The full passage reads: “The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States, whatever pretensions of politicians, pedagogues other such mountebanks, and that is its aim everywhere else.”
To illustrate this idea, doesn’t it perturb you to learn about the idea of “critical thinking.” Is there really such a thing as “uncritically thinking?” To think is to process information in order to form an opinion. But if we are not critical when processing this information, are we really thinking? Or are we mindlessly accepting other opinions as truth?
This was happening to me, and if it wasn’t for the rare occurrence of an avant-garde tenth grade English teacher, Donna Bryan, who allowed me to open my mind and ask questions before accepting textbook doctrine, I would have been doomed. I am now enlightened, but my mind still feels disabled. I must retrain myself and constantly remember how insane this ostensibly sane place really is.
And now here I am in a world guided by fear, a world suppressing the uniqueness that lies inside each of us, a world where we can either acquiesce to the inhuman nonsense of corporatism and materialism or insist on change. We are not enlivened by an educational system that clandestinely sets us up for jobs that could be automated, for work that need not be done, for enslavement without fervency for meaningful achievement. We have no choices in life when money is our motivational force. Our motivational force ought to be passion, but this is lost from the moment we step into a system that trains us, rather than inspires us.
We are more than robotic bookshelves, conditioned to blurt out facts we were taught in school. We are all very special, every human on this planet is so special, so aren’t we all deserving of something better, of using our minds for innovation, rather than memorization, for creativity, rather than futile activity, for rumination rather than stagnation? We are not here to get a degree, to then get a job, so we can consume industry-approved placation after placation. There is more, and more still.
The saddest part is that the majority of students don’t have the opportunity to reflect as I did. The majority of students are put through the same brainwashing techniques in order to create a complacent labor force working in the interests of large corporations and secretive government, and worst of all, they are completely unaware of it. I will never be able to turn back these 18 years. I can’t run away to another country with an education system meant to enlighten rather than condition. This part of my life is over, and I want to make sure that no other child will have his or her potential suppressed by powers meant to exploit and control. We are human beings. We are thinkers, dreamers, explorers, artists, writers, engineers. We are anything we want to be – but only if we have an educational system that supports us rather than holds us down. A tree can grow, but only if its roots are given a healthy foundation.
For those of you out there that must continue to sit in desks and yield to the authoritarian ideologies of instructors, do not be disheartened. You still have the opportunity to stand up, ask questions, be critical, andcreate your own perspective. Demand a setting that will provide you with intellectual capabilities that allow you to expand your mind instead of directing it. Demand that you be interested in class. Demand that the excuse, “You have to learn this for the test” is not good enough for you. Education is an excellent tool, if used properly, but focus more on learning rather than getting good grades.
For those of you that work within the system that I am condemning, I do not mean to insult; I intend to motivate. You have the power to change the incompetencies of this system. I know that you did not become a teacher or administrator to see your students bored. You cannot accept the authority of the governing bodies that tell you what to teach, how to teach it, and that you will be punished if you do not comply. Our potential is at stake.
For those of you that are now leaving this establishment, I say, do not forget what went on in these classrooms. Do not abandon those that come after you. We are the new future and we are not going to let tradition stand. We will break down the walls of corruption to let a garden of knowledge grow throughout America. Once educated properly, we will have the power to do anything, and best of all, we will only use that power for good, for we will be cultivated and wise. We will not accept anything at face value. We will ask questions, and we will demand truth.
So, here I stand. I am not standing here as valedictorian by myself. I was molded by my environment, by all of my peers who are sitting here watching me. I couldn’t have accomplished this without all of you. It was all of you who truly made me the person I am today. It was all of you who were my competition, yet my backbone. In that way, we are all valedictorians.
I am now supposed to say farewell to this institution, those who maintain it, and those who stand with me and behind me, but I hope this farewell is more of a “see you later” when we are all working together to rear a pedagogic movement. But first, let’s go get those pieces of paper that tell us that we’re smart enough to do so!

Great Resources On What The Heck I Have Been Talking About

(1) First, I might as well go off on a limb...something that I listen to every day
as part of my 'Renewal' rituals is a hypnosis recording.  It's called The Hypnotic Secret

A great way to relax and unwind.  Its based off of the "Law of Attraction" and it is down by an expert who at one time ran the biggest hypnosis clinic in the country.  His name is Dr Harlan Kilstein, trained by some of the same people as Tony Robbins.

Its great stuff, you can check out a quick video on it here


http://tinyurl.com/25zhhgv

(2)Book- The Power of Full Engagement

One of my favorite reads, ever...By Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, they show you how they transfer the techniques of high performance athletes to everyday people, in professional and personal life



(3) The New Psycho-Cybernetics

Yes the self help book from the 60's that literally started the revolution and industry in itself. This book shows the power of visualizes and offers great tips, tools and techniques to creating what you really want, in the most efficient manner



So there you have it, while just a sampling - some great content and resources for you - All 3 with my highest recommendations.

How To Effectively Maintain and Manage Your Energy

How To Increase Your Energy Naturally

Warning: If You Are a “Foodie” This Nutrient Might Not Be For You

So, every now and then we like to sin a little.  Where we have certainly modified our portion control, often upon eating out at a restaurant that creates some fabulous food…it’s sometimes difficult to turn off that ‘glutton’ switch…you know, the one that just allows for the food to be consumed, far beyond what is good for you.

Well, a while back I was introduced to a new nutrient on the market that had supporting research that it helps to control hunger, slows intestinal carbohydrate absorption, enhances resting energy expenditure at the cellular level, thus enhancing metabolism, reduces dietary fat absorption from the intestines, helps restore insulin and leptin sensitivity, and reduces the amount of blood glucose that is converted to stored fat (tri-glycerides) in the cells.

With nutritionals’, I often like to experiment so I can share my first hand experience.  Well…the end result of trying this new product…I was leaving a lot of tasty food on the plate, only to be taking home as a doggie bag.

Here’s why where this might sound like a bad thing…it’s actually really good for our health and longevity.

First of all, research shows that caloric restriction is one of the keys to longevity.  What happens is that the body begins to release ‘anti-aging’ genes called sirtuin’s and these sirtuins are responsible for certain longevity markers.  So, nature has provided us with an answer to live longer and healthier…caloric restriction.  The problem is that sometimes this is more difficult than it sounds.

Why?  Because of something called Syndrome X or Metabolic Syndrome.  The key or guilty party to this is a thing called insulin resistance; which basically comes down to the body’s inability to efficiently utilize insulin, resulting in hire blood sugar levels and eventual weight gain, increased cardiovascular risk factors, diabetes, and so much more.

Often a sign of this insulin resistance are the good ol’ love handles or even ‘spare tire’ around the mid section.

Once again, it’s all about hormones; the two primary ones, insulin and leptin.  Leptin, not often talked about is a huge factor to monitor to get an idea what insulin will do next, leading to the unhealthy cascade metabolic resistance.  Thus finding out that your leptin levels have raised puts you ahead of the curve to make adjustments that will support your overall health.  Leptin has another important role in weight management…it controls hunger.  So, the more leptin control, the less hunger you have.

An important note is that elevated leptin levels have a direct correlation to C Reactive Protein (CRP) which are produced by the fat cells.  CRP is a major risk factor to assess while looking at cardiac preventative health.

The restoration of leptin sensitivity is often the road block to overcome to effective weight loss…even when you are doing everything right; a diet consisting of healthy carbohydrates, healthy fat’s, high fiber, healthy protein’s, regular exercise and even using supplements that are supposed to melt the fat away.

And by the way, the product I was speaking of utilizes and ingredient called Irvingia which is an extract from the West African plant Irvingia gabonensis.  This has been combined with both green tea extract as well as kelp and bladderwreck, providing well balanced fat burning, healthy weight loss, and appetite control.*

And here is the really good news.

The product I like is called Optimized Irvingia with Phase 3 Calorie Control Complex.  It’s made by LifeExtension.

And I found out that they are offering this at 25% Off for A Limited time, so it’s a great deal.

Here’s is their weblink below if you are curious

In Health,

Rob