At our recent opening school mass, we reflected on our school motto, Veritas. As part of the celebration, the chairperson of the student council, Gráinne N., delivered a thoughtful speech exploring what truth means in our lives, our relationships, and within our school community. Please take the time to read their homily below.
Dia daoibh, a chairde! Hi everyone, I’m Gráinne. You might know me as one of those people who’s always hosting the Christmas Quiz, and other things like that, and while Gearóid spoke about searching for truth in school life, I’m focusing on finding truth within yourself.
Now, I’d say we can agree that it’s hard to do that amidst the hectic noise of a school year. Like the Gospel that was read by Father Tom alludes to, life can be like a storm. External pressures - tests, homework, study - often distract from the crucial work of making time to regularly check in and connect with you.
And then you’ll see an embarrassing photo of yourself from a few years ago (don’t worry - we’ve all been through a phase) and it’ll hit you all at once that you now feel like a totally different person to who you were back then. And you’ll wonder when all that change happened, and where the “old you” went?
There was a trend on TikTok a while ago I'm sure some of you will remember, where people would post a video of themselves as a little kid, with the caption “she lives inside me”. And I always thought there was such a stark truth in that sentiment.
The idea that, while our lives are made up of many different eras - to invoke Taylor Swift - and although some of them seem like a lifetime ago, each one is still within you, including whatever era you’re making your way through right now, and those to come.
To illustrate this I’d like to steal - and slightly change - an analogy from The Good Place, a thought-provoking TV show about finding truth, in the world and yourself:
Imagine you are an ocean. Each of your eras - or as we often call them, “versions of you” - is a wave, that rises and then eventually crashes on the shore when you enter a new phase of your life. And that wave is gone. But the water doesn't disappear - it simply returns to the ocean. It still lives within you.
All the good you’ve put into the world as well as mistakes you may have made. Accept it all. It can be easy to forget that in order to love your neighbour as yourself, like the Gospels tell us to, you do have to actually love yourself first!
Another quote from that same show is: “What matters isn't if people are good or bad; what matters is if they're trying to be better today than they were yesterday”.
This idea came to mind when I thought about the first reading by Sarah earlier - encouraging us to think about whatever is noble, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, and so on. I can’t think of a purer example of all of these things. And trying to be better today than yesterday is largely about the small stuff.
I’ll ask you to think - and really do it - of someone who made an impact on you with a small kind act they mightn't remember. I guarantee that whoever you are, someone has a story like that about you. You’ve made a greater impact than you even remember. And you will continue to do so. That is the real truth.
We walk past these words everyday, but I think they bear repeating: “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire”. Whether or not you’re a person of faith, this stands true. Be who you are meant to be, and do the hard work of figuring out who that is. Because the world has a right to know that someone like you exists.
Before I leave I’ll take this chance to say I’m sincerely grateful to each one of you for making our student body something I’m so proud to represent in my role as Chairperson. To be able to see you all at once like this is truly an honour. I’ll round out with one final quote from The Lego Movie which I think embodies the theme of discovering and loving your own unique truth perfectly:
“You are the most talented, the most interesting, and the most extraordinary person in the universe. And you are capable of amazing things.”
Go raibh míle maith agaibh.
Gráinne N., 6th Year, Student Council Chairperson