The Last Word

By Reuben Cook | Posted: Wednesday November 10, 2021

Far out! I didn’t think this day would ever come. One of my last here and one of which I can speak to you all.

In all honesty I don’t really know what to talk about today, and that's ok. I am an 18 year old boy who is no older than most of the people in the room and like most, is yet to know what he wants to do with his life. At the end of the day though life is not a sprint, it is a marathon, and for many, we are just starting to go through that first quarter, however we must not stop.

Rest at the end, not at the middle. There is time for resting at the end but for us that time is not now. For some it may be the end of our time at this school but it certainly isn't the end of what makes us an OB's boy. The 4 walls that we are surrounded in have shaped us into the fine gentlemen we are today and this will never be forgotten. The passion and honour that echoes around the school will live with me forever and I am grateful to be a part of it. I could not have asked for a better time here but I sure wish I could have asked for more. So for those Year 11s and 12s that don’t need to ask for what I wish, please make the most of it.

Life happens fast. One second you're walking in through the archway to school, the next you're stuck in your house for months. Life sure has its high and lows. You find out who you are in the lows. The person who hides in the dark asking “why me?” and the person who finds the light in the worst of the times will have two different futures. Because life happens fast, and before you know it you could find yourself standing on the other side of that archway. Because perspective is powerful and it can take you places if you allow it, but in the meantime don’t hide away, keep your head high and embrace where you are at. The greatest fear you will ever face is yourself, you have to dance beautifully in the box you are comfortable dancing in.

As I finish 13 years of schooling and my 5 years here, I am lucky enough to say that there is no place like Otago Boys'. The words “Shall memory rise and call to mind our days that long have sped, As our years go rolling by” are starting to sink in. From Wilson and I running to school late on our first day, to having my bag thrown on a roof or cooking chicken straight onto the stove with no pan, I simply cannot list them all or allowed to say them all, but they are embedded in my memory, along with all the brothers in front of me. To the Year 13s, I think it is fair to say we have had some great memories. More importantly, we have made some lifelong friends. An OBHS mate will always be a brother to me, so good luck for whatever lies ahead and I look forward to catching up at a reunion in years to come.

In tradition, I will end with a quote.

"One day all of us will get separated from each other. We will miss our conversations of everything and nothing and the dreams that we had. Days, months and years will pass us until this contact becomes rare. One day our children will ask us "who are these people?" And we will smile with invisible tears and say "It was them that I had the best days of my life with".