Today, The DAILY LEADER begins its publication ofvaledictorian and salutatorian speeches from the Class of 2011.Today’s address is from Austin Brister, Brookhaven Academyvaledictorian.

I know many of you have parties and “other” things to go toafter this, so I’ll keep this as short as possible.

I was given many suggestions on what to base my speech on. Mrs.Sbravati suggested something about everyone forming two lines anddoing something … I stopped paying attention after that.

Mrs. Culbertson suggested a poem by Robert Frost. Buck suggested”The Raven” by Poe. Trey suggested a poem by T.S. Eliott which,censored for the younger members of our audience, is called theTriumph of Bull-Malarkey. Cody suggested an original composition ofhis entitled “An Ode to a Snowball: or How I Learned to StopWorrying and Love the Seven O’clock Rush.” Michael K. suggested theentire Pokerap.

Even though they were all great ideas in their own way, Idecided to quote Fleetwood Mac, to go my own way.

To the Class of 2011, I ask only one thing: to realize that youare human. Being such, you have been granted the amazing gift ofconsciousness.

You can think, feel, love. Those are things that in the entireuniverse have been found only on Earth. Take advantage of thesegifts. Think about the world, question everything, but mostimportantly, love one another. We’re all stuck on this rocktogether, so we’ve got to take care of each other. To quote thegreat philosophers Lennon and McCartney, “All You Need isLove.”

Austin Brister is the son of Mark and AndreaBrister.