A Graduation Speech: Homelessness In The United States

We were on our way to who knows where. We were with so many other people, yet most of us felt alone, including me. By saying 'we', I mean the abandoned babies, children and teenagers who were all orphans. The train was jam-packed full to the brim as the conductor picked up and dropped off kids at every stop. We all wanted to be dropped off so we could have a family who'd love us. However, the majority of the time, us kids, especially the older boys, were adopted to work like extra help and some, like slaves on the farms. Many of us girls weren't as wanted because they said we "couldn't handle the work and weren't strong enough". Nevertheless, we were all the same. Now that we were orphans, our lives would never be the same.

As the train was moving along and we got further from the train station, less hope was ingrained within each and every one of us. This was due to the heart-wrenching stories we overheard. Everything was unknown. We were lost, broken and confused. However, we didn't all come from the same backgrounds. Many of us were already living in poverty-ridden households, and some of us had been homeless. But we all had one thing in common: we had no parents to take care of us. …show more content…
I talked to the girl, Maya, sitting next to me, who was 13 just like me. We discovered how similar our life was. Both our homes burned down and our parents along with the flames, as well her younger brother. They all died in the fire. This made our respect for each other grow