Speech fright

We graduate in exactly thirteen days and I have been asked to be valedictorian. I kind of assumed our class valedictorian would be Rati. I have no idea of what to say. I was counting on just sitting there in a sari. I am going to make such an idiot out of myself. What am I going to say?! I can’t make speeches!

I really envy people who can speak well in public. I’m not a disaster or anything, but somehow saying a practiced elocution piece and talking from the heart to an audience are two different things. I don’t want to sound fake, and yet, I think that if I say all of what I want to say, I’ll be there all night. I don’t want to bore people, and I wonder if my memories are really worth their time. Are my feelings really what they are going there to hear? Somehow I don’t think so. So how do I say what I want to say without sounding fake, without going on forever, without boring people, and speak on behalf of twenty other people?!

I really don’t think I am cut out for this. Anyone out there who is? Your suggestions are more than welcome!