“Micro-ambitious,” is a term coined by a high school senior in New Zealand who was just diagnosed with cancer.
Jake Bailey used this phrase when addressing his student body in a valedictorian speech. A week before he was set to perform this duty as Christchurch Boys’ High School’s senior monitor (New Zealand’s version of a school’s student body president), he was told by doctors that he wouldn’t be alive for it. They told him that if he didn’t “get any treatment in the next three weeks,” he was going to die. Bailey was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, one of the world’s fastest growing tumors.
His speech is beautiful. It’s incredibly uplifting and defeating all at the same time. Jake’s voice is smooth and strong as he speaks succinct words of wisdom to a room packed with wet eyes. He says “Forget about having long-term dreams. Let’s be passionately dedicated to the pursuit of short-term goals. Micro-ambitious,” CNN reported.
Rarely are you advised to dedicate yourself solely to short-term goals. Never are you advised to to forget about long-term dreams. I found this profoundly interesting. Many news sources quoted the Christchurch Boys’ headmaster, Nic Hill. Hill claims to be very close with Bailey, and has been meeting with him on a weekly basis because he is no longer well enough to attend school. Hill describes Bailey as “a student who is wise beyond his years.” But I disagree entirely.
A cancer diagnosis at such a young age is impossible to comprehend. At 18, with your entire life ahead of you, death isn’t even on the table. The conflict between Bailey’s prognosis, his reality and his dreams is unfathomable for him. It would be unfathomable for anyone. The advice he gives his fellow peers and teachers is an incredible insight into this relatively unexplored, unmentioned thought.
You can see what I’m talking about by looking at some of the quotes from his speech:
“We don’t know where we might end up. Or when it might end up.”
“Here’s the thing: None of us get out of life alive, so be gallant, be great, be gracious, be grateful for the opportunities you have.”
And finally, he closes by saying:
“I don’t know where it goes from here for any of us — for you, for anyone, and as sure as hell not for me … but I wish you the very best in your journey, and thank you for all being part of mine.”
He is incredibly straightforward. There is no sugar coating, no generalities and frankly, no BS. This is not advice from someone wise beyond his years. This is the advice of someone who is rationally and beautifully speaking as an 18-year-old. Although he choked up at times throughout his delivery, his resilience is outwardly remarkable and unique. This uniqueness can be almost entirely attributed to his age.
The gut instinct in situations such as these is either to rationalize or deny the reality of them. But when you haven’t yet seen the world and you don’t yet know who you are, you can’t do either of those things. Bailey’s speech is amazing. It is inspirational, moving, impressive and memorable. Not because he is trying to be someone he isn’t, or say things that simply aren’t true, but because he is so refreshingly real. Some things are meant to be taken at face value, and they are more powerful that way. Bailey reminds us to draw our strength from what’s right in front of us. He reminds us to be frank with reality, with others and with ourselves.
