Guest post by Sarah Adam

I am the card-carrying, banner-waving, founding member and chairperson of the Cameron and Scott Reyburn Fan Club. But I do actually love meeting other kids, too. The past few weeks I’ve been visiting a bunch of different schools, moderating Matric English orals for the IEB. Last week I had the privilege of going to our sister school, St Mary’s DSG. I was really moved by the prepared speech of a particular young lady, Sarah Adam, because she seemed to understand all about celebrating life. I asked her if she’d mind me posting an excerpt of her speech here:  

Stars. Those twinkling celestial bodies embedded deep within the night sky have always held a certain fascination for me. They seem so magical and untouchable and this is probably the reason for them being so often mused upon. It was Lord Byron who said, “Ye stars! Which are the poetry of heaven.” He has not been the only one inspired by stars as I, too, along with countless others, have drawn stimulation from them. However, my inspiration has not culminated in poetry, songs or paintings but rather into symbolism and life lessons learnt from these sparkling astral bodies.

The stars are always glittering above us, whether visible to our eyes or not. Come day, night or even clouds, they are there. One great lesson I’ve learnt from this is that there are certain things in life that are always constant and, as such, need to be accepted. Time is an infinite constant and will always pass. At no point does it ever speed up or stop, and this reminder has gotten me through a lot. When I feel that everything in my life is changing and irregular and nothing is steady, the stars remind me that things like wind and traffic are ever-present constants in life and, although it may feel like the whole world is spinning in a different direction, it isn’t, and much of life is still the same.

It may sound ironic but gazing at the stars keeps me grounded and down-to-earth. I find myself elevating my issues and the things I need to do constantly. My stress levels increase at a rapid pace and I feel as though I’m so highly strung I can’t even touch the ground, but once I remember that, like the stars, there are bigger things beyond my tiny little world, I can calm down and focus. Looking out towards the colossal stars in the great expanse of sky puts it into my mind that I, in comparison to the rest of the world, am very small and there are greater and more important things, beyond my Science Practicals or English Moderation, which will affect my life and the lives of others. In this way, the stars allow me to gain perspective in life and not let small things faze me. … …

Samuel Taylor Coleridge said, “The stars hang bright above, silent, as if they watched the sleeping earth.” And from this, I’ve realised that sometimes it’s better to be a silent observer than someone who always has something to say about everything. Just like the stars, who appear to be all-seeing “And yet with neither love nor hate”, as Robert Frost would put it, pass no comment or judgement, I think it would be beneficial for me to do the same.

My lessons from the stars may be clichéd, and my star gazing and the conclusions I’ve drawn from this may seem a bit of a stretch, but I feel they are creating positivity out of something that is taken for granted and that has been deemed as perfectly ordinary. There is nothing wrong with looking from a different perspective, as Oscar Wilde informed us when saying, “We are all lying in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

J

‘When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
the moon and the stars you set in place—
what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?’ – Psalm 8:3-4