This is the first speech that I wrote many years ago. I hope you will find this life changing for you as how it

1. KAMATIS Speech: the Epilogue
My earnest greetings to the young and vigorous Campus Administrator, Dr.Antonio
A. Remojo; to the ever-compassionate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Mrs. Cecily S.
Bugais; to the decisive Director of Administration and Finance, Mr. Feliciano C. Hampac;
dear faculty and staff; supportive parents; beautiful and gorgeous students; ladies and
gentlemen- a pleasant evening to all. Good evening!
It is indeed my great honor and privilege to be part of this memorable occasion in
the social climate of your college life. I can still remember when I stood here a year ago,
delivering my welcome speech during our JS Prom and ring hop ceremony with the
senior students now. And now I can hardly imagine, that once again in my life, I am
attending a JS Prom, I am holding this podium- but now, it is just with a different purpose.
When Ma’am Saludsod asked me to be here tonight, I was really hesitant to say
YES. But then, I realized that this could be my opportunity to share with you some
nuggets of wisdom and inspire you in my simple and humble way as how other people
had inspired me.
If I could ask some minutes of your life, I would do it right, so that you may lend me
your ear, because it is through listening that one understands, it is through understanding
that one finds a reason to do things, and it by doing that one attains SUCCESS.
But how do people really achieve it? Is there a shortcut? A perfect formula?.. While
I was pondering, I’ve come up with this seven-letter-word which had helped me to
achieve mine.
It starts with letter K which stands for know what you want to become and
become it. If you will be given a band paper and some materials to draw your success
on it. How are you going to draw your success? What are the colors that you want to
use? What are the details that you want to include? What do you think its end result?
According to Stephen Covey in order to achieve what we want we need to begin with an
end in mind. We need to visualize what we want. Making your life and your story of
success is just like making those decisions. It is but your first step of crossing bridges to
the limelight of triumph.

2. The next letter is letter A for acknowledge and appreciate your blessings . I
remember Celine Dion, one of the greatest singers who said, “Some people have
everything; they have nothing.” When I heard about this, this lingered into my mind. It
made me realized that life is not just all about what we have, but how are we going to
make the most of what we have to be the best person we can ever become. Learn to
count your blessings! Your blessings or your gifts were like your computer in making a
program; your lesson plan or syllabus in teaching, your capital in having a business and
your seeds in planting. They are your materials in drawing. They are God-given gifts not
to keep but to utilize for the realization of your plans. The more gratitude you feel, the
more optimism, relaxation, and overall happiness you experience. Be always grateful for
what you have because a grateful heart is always inspired. When you feel exhausted for
the many requirements that you have and subjects you want to study for your exams and
you feel like giving up, it will be your motivation to hang on while others give up and fall.
When you are thankful, you are inviting more blessings to come and that means having
more opportunities to achieve your goal. Having more materials to make your art.
The third letter is letter M which reminds me to master self-discipline . Self-
discipline can be defined as the ability to motivate oneself in spite of a negative emotional
state. It is the structured thought that controls our body. One of the things that I’ve
learned from great men is that their first victory is over themselves. Do not choose to just
keep on floating like a dry leaf which fell into a river, which is just taken by the current of
the water. Learn to navigate your life according to your own will. God gave you the
blessing of freedom to do so, but it could be a curse if it is taken for granted and not used
properly.
Then letter A which tells me to Be an achiever. Always do your best! Achievers
are not literally just those people who won the game but also those who tried and did their
very best. When you did your best but your best wasn’t good enough, it merely means it
is not your time yet. But in your simple way, you know you achieve something. Always
remember the little and big achievements that you had because they will always remind
you of the sweet taste of success!
Another letter is letter T, which stands for take risks. Ships in harbor are safe,
but that is not what ships are built for. A man cannot discover new oceans unless he has
the courage to loose sight of the shore. I remember the Roman poet named Virgil who

3. once wrote, “Fortune favors the bold.” In school, sometimes we don’t study very hard
because we are afraid of disappointment that no matter how hard we try we can’t make it
perfect or someone will always be better than us. If you don’t dare to do it, you will just
forever wonder of how far you can go and be disappointed for the simple reason that you
didn’t even try. If you didn’t take the risk of not being able to pay your tuition fee, of not
being able to pass the exam or to comply your requirements, of not finishing even a
semester, etc. Do you think you will be called as junior and senior students now?
Therefore, we have to learn to take the risks of those circumstances and decisions which
are worth of every effort we make.
And let’s have letter I which means improve yourself . Some people think that
life is a race and success means who is first, who is the greatest, the number one. But
that is not even half of it. I like the new advertisement of Lucky Me, because that is true.
The only person that you have to beat is only your old self. Improving one self means
persistence, hard work and patience. Can you still recall the first time you held a
keyboard? Your hands even shook, and maybe you were only using your one finger in
typing. But that changes through time and practice. That is the time when you defeat your
old self. Always dare to improve yourself because you are not born to remain as children.
And the last letter is S which stands for share your dreams to God . Talk to
Him! Tell Him your aspirations, your dreams, your vision of the picture you want to draw
and your plans to achieve it. Consider His guidance in what color you want to use. On the
details you want to include. I really want to share with you this verse which had influenced
my life in many ways: Proverbs 16:3 “Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans
will succeed.” It is the time that you already did your best that you realized that you can’t
just do it on your own. When you humble yourself to God and trust Him to bring the best
in whatever task you do, you will gain inner peace and confidence knowing that His ways
and plans to your life are the best.
There you go! It is KAMATIS! You know the first time I thought about the
acronym, I laughed out loud. But when I went into its meaning, somehow, there is a truth
in it. That we have to know what we want by having the beginning with the end in mind.
We have to acknowledge and appreciate our blessings through making the most of what
we have. That we need to master self-discipline in order to become the person we
choose to be. To be an achiever by always doing our best. To take risks so that we’ll

4. know how far we can go. To improve our self by not just getting older but getting better
every time; and the last is to share it to God because God knows best. It may not edible
or something that we can eat, but it is do-able, it is something that we are capable of
doing. It may not be a perfect formula or a shortcut for your victory but it is something that
you need to consider in making your own testimony of success. I just hope that you’ll give
it a fair try.
If I could add more words, may you always keep on believing to yourself that you
are capable in turning your dream to its reality. Because if you believe that you can, then
you can. But if you believe that you cannot, then you are right.
You were like inside to a one way tunnel and you only have two options: it is either
to be coward and retreat or to be brave and persevere. May you always fix your eyes at
the end of the tunnel, to that little light you see so that you will never lose your way.
Moreover, may we always be grateful to our dear alma mater, the Southern Leyte
State University- Hinunangan Campus which serves as our material; and its people, the
faculty and the staff, who serve as our mentors in making our own craft.
Allow me also to quote these words from former U.S. President Theodore
Roosevelt, “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though
checkered by failure, than to remain with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor
suffer much because they live into the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. We
need to step out of the gray twilight into the bright sunshine so that we can all see the
dawn of a new day.
You know, looking at you right now, I can tell with frankness and sincerity that I am
proud of you. Somehow you already have started to fill your band paper with details of
success. You already have gained the skills which will eventually help you come up to the
wonderful portrait you are making- to your masterpiece!
Finally, I’ll wrap my speech with these words: May you will not succumb or give in
to life’s trials and challenges. Think yourself like an iron, put into a fire of adversity, and
formed to its perfection by a hammer of time. Always remember that everything that you
have and every circumstance that you experience only have one single end- that is your
inevitable success!

5. Thank you and God bless!!