Category: 2021 Entries

If You Want To Change The World Start By Making Your Bed

The twenty minute empowering and inspirational commencement address “Make Your Bed” was delivered by Admiral William H. McRaven to the graduating class of The University of Texas at Austin in the spring of 2014 in front of what is known as the Tower for the purpose of inspiring future leaders. According to the speaker, who looks every important by being dressed in his high ranking officer uniform, “The average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime” (McRaven). This speech is effective at persuading the audience to change the world by following a list of ways to transform themselves to overcome challenges and be more successful which will also impact others. He tells the students, who are about to graduate and make their mark on the world, that if you want to change the world, start by changing the lives of ten people you meet. As a former UT student, Navy SEAL, and Admiral of the United States Navy; Mr. McRaven is a credible speaker who talked about how people in the military have made a difference by helping others which encouraged the students to go out and challenge themselves to do good things.
Admiral McRaven’s commencement address was about the ten lessons he learned from basic SEAL training which includes starting every morning by making your bed, don’t back down from the sharks, know that life is not fair and that you will fail often, among other suggestions. If you start each day with a task completed and never give up you will leave the world far better than you found it and you will have indeed changed the world.
In Admiral McRaven’s speech he talked about if you want to change the world you need to keep moving forward. As a young Navy SEAL the recruits were required to have a uniform inspection. No matter how hard they tried, the commander would find something wrong and punish the sailor. The students felt that all their hard work in passing inspection was for nothing but in reality the instructors were trying to teach them no matter how well you prepare or perform something will still be out of place. “It’s just the way life is sometimes”(McRaven) so if you want to change do not let them break your spirit or force you to quit. The speaker convinces the audience that this topic matters by using examples of his experience as a Navy SEAL having to be properly dressed.
Another inspirational suggestion the admiral tells the students is that if they “want to change the world, [they] must be [their] very best in the darkest moment[s] (McRaven). As an example he discusses one of the most difficult expeditions that a seamen has to do. One of their jobs is to conduct underwater attacks against enemy ships. This requires the sailor going to the deepest part of the ship where it is very dark. at a time like this they need to remain, calm, composed, and use everything they have learned in order to be successful. In addition “capitalize on your strengths to help you get through these dark moments” (Stemmie). The speaker convinces the audience that this topic matters because it is something they can relate to as young professionals about to make their mark on society. A lot of things can go wrong but if you do their best you can make an impact on the world.
The biggest life lesson that McRaven talked about was that in order to change the world, make your bed every morning. This might sound like a silly idea but if you carry out this one simple task each day it will lead you to accomplishing another task, and another task, and another task. If you can do this small task it will inspire you to do more difficult tasks. Even if your day is unproductive you still would have accomplished something. The speaker convinces the audience that this task is important by contilly coming back to it throughout the speech. He speaks louder and emphasizes the words “Make Your Bed” throughout his speech.
While most of these University of Texas graduates will not become Navy SEALs the lessons that Admiral McRaven preaches about will be important to them for the rest of their lives. His call to action for the students is to follow these simple rules. If they begin each day by accomplishing small tasks, try their very best even in their darkest moments, and never give up then they will truly change the world.

Works Cited
McRaven, Admiral William R.). “Make Your Bed Speech by Admiral William R McRaven.”
FixedOnSuccess, 15 October 2017, www.fixedonsuccess.com/articlesblogs1/make-your-bed-speech-by-admiral-william-h-mcraven

Stemmie, Connie. “Make your Bed 5 Lessons From Admiral William R. McRaven’s Speech.”
Develop Good Habits, Oldtown Publishing LLC, 19 December 2019,
www.developgoodhabits.com/make-your-bed/

Jonathan D. Gonzales
Austin Community College, Cypress Creek
Due: April 18th, 2021

Dead Grunge Monkeyz

Hey, I’m J.D. and I’m dead. No, not being bullied or anything just plain dead. A skeleton monkey for your information. I live an average life. I go to school, hang out with my bros, and jam out to loud rock music. I love music, it’s a huge part of my character. Believe it or not, my bros and I created a band “Dead Grunge Monkeyz”. We do covers of songs from the legends such as Ozzy Osbourne, Nirvana, Alice Cooper, Foo Fighters, Rob Zombie and etc. Anyway, enough about myself. I know what you’re thinking: How did I die? Honestly, I don’t know. I can’t remember but it doesn’t matter. The important thing about life is to go with the flow. Most people nowadays exercise and be healthy, which is good and all but the memories of all the good stuff with friends and family is the best part about living and the afterlife. That’s enough of the intro, let’s talk about my world aka the dead world. I have 4 best friends: Marky(Singer), Gray(bassist), Cody( guitarist #1) and Andrew( guitarist #2). These dudes have been the greatest metal-heads off all time, it’s insane. We all go to school at Helsing High School: Home of the wolves and I’ll be damned if it were the most mind- numbing place in the freaking afterlife. Though, ditching class is kinda an option…stay in school kiddos. For real, this time let’s begin the story of our first performance.

“WAKE UP, NOW!” J.D.s’ mother yelled with such grace. “I…I’m up….” J.D. said waking from his deep slumber. He got out of bed and started throwing on clothes that were not smelly and somewhat decent. “Were you playing video games all night again or looking at girls?” his mom said. “No, I was looking for places to play a gig with the guys,” he said seriously. His mother’s feelings changed from angst to calm, “ Have you called? Have you heard about times?” “Not yet, but we’ll find a place and show this place what we are truly made of.” J.D. said with tiredness. The time was 8:50am and J.D. was walking to the mind numbing place we call school while listening to Ozzy Osbournes’ “ I don’t wanna stop”. “ YO, J!” he heard his friend, Andrew yell with excitement. J.D. waved quietly at him as he kept walking. “What up, my dude?” J told Andrew as they fist bumped each other. “I found a place to play,” Andrew said casually. J looked at him surprised, “No freakin’ way! Where?!” “ Andrew smiled, “The mall.” The two friends were joyous and excited to tell the rest of the band about the greatest news of all time. “ WE GOT A GIG!” The whole band was full of pride and excitement down to their core.
“ What do we gotta do to perform? Like do we have to send a video or a recording of our music or what, bro” Marky said with seriousness in his tone. “ Relax, we just send the general manager a sound recording and we’ll take it from there. He asked to send it by saturday night by 10pm.” Andrew said calmly. “F@$# DUDE!” Cody yelled. “ We don’t have enough time.” Everyone was in a panic at that moment but J.D. “ Listen up! We’ll do a song we all know how to do amazing at: The Pretender by Foo Fighters.” The guys looked at each other nodding that this was the best choice. “ Let’s get going, guys. We need this gig.” as the band started setting up their equipment.

The week passed by fairly quickly as the boys kept practicing and perfecting their music and skill. As Friday night crept upon them, they guys were exhausted but proud of their work. They all took a nice break to prepare so they can record their song and turn it to the mall manager. “I think we’re ready, fellas. What do y’all think?” Gray said, tired. They nodded as they drank water and laid down on the garage floor. Cody began setting up their recording system as the band took mental note of how they wanted to make the song sound. “ We will start recording in 5” Cody said, getting to his position. The air fell silent as they waited for the light to turn red to begin recording. What felt like an hour, the light turned red and soon the music began. The next morning, Andrew was running towards the mall with their song to get the gig. J.D. was standing near the front door holding it for people walking in and out of the building. “Are you ready?” Andrew said nervously. J.D. nodded and the pair walked in and soon met with the big man. “ Well. boys, in my years of hearing bands wanting to play here…you guys stand out the most. In a good way, I mean. I’ll allow y’all to play here.” the manager said. He grabbed a huge binder and flipped through many pages. “ Let’s do next Saturday at 7:30pm. You can play 1 song and that’s it.” he said. “ That’s perfect. Thank you sir” J said. The two friends walked home and waited to tell the rest about next saturday. “We got the gig for next Saturday night at 7:30. I think we should do a new song.” J said. The band talked for an hour about what song to play. “ Revolution Radio, My Demons, Dragula there’s too many options.” Gray said with pain. “We’ll think of something.” J assured. They guys were silent for a while thinking about a song they could play. “ I’ve got it. We’ll play the one song that made us today.” Marky said. The group agreed on it as if it was a calling for them to play this.

The band began to rehearse and practice more as the week flew by again. The neighbors could tell that they were passionate about this concert. Listening to the sound of guitar riffs, the beat of the drum and bass and wonderful singing that these friends love doing, they knew they were ready for saturday night. Friday night rolled around and they boys were at Andrews’ living room planning for tomorrow night. “ The plan is to be there about 4:30 to set up sound equipment and do sound checks.” Marky said. “ J, Andrew and I will set up positions.Gray and Cody you guys make sure the sound system is working perfectly and no one messes with it. Any Questions? And no stupid ones.” The band nodded with grace and went home to rest for the big day. J could hardly sleep at all knowing he would be performing in front of a lot of people judging him. He tried to erase it from his mind but he couldn’t. As morning came, J began his morning routine and went over the plan in his head. 3:50pm, the band made it to the mall to set up for tonight’s performance. The plan went perfectly as the boys expected. “Man, it’s here. Our first gig.” Cody said with excitement like a child. One hour left before the band can play. As the guys made it onto the stage there were a hundred people waiting to see the band. “ Whats up! We are the Dead Grunge Monkeys and tonight we will be playing All the small things.” Marky shouted to the crowd. The crowd roared with excitement and the boys cleared their voices and began playing their minds out. The whole mall went crazy over how amazing the band played and were booked for another show. The guys were more than happy to play and entertain people.
That’s the end of the story. Well, not really there’s more that goes. Marky gets a girl, the guys graduate and whatever but we’ll tell that story later.