NIE COLUMNIST: 

Layton Lolo.

I stand to speak

I act to teach

I dance to uplift

I learn to preach

I sing to feel

I help to smile

I laugh to stay calm

I walk so I can go the extra mile

We can do things together

United as one

I’m the sniper

And you’re the gun

I tell you my plans

You support my every goal

We commit to our cause

One mind; one soul

You listen to my voice

I listen to yours

You follow with trust

I lead you through each door

The doors to the future

The doors that hold our fates

I turn the handle

I just can’t wait

Can’t wait to see 

What lies ahead

But I can’t move

My legs fell like lead

But you lift me up

And carry me on

We rise to the occasion

Because this is our dawn

Everyone at one point in life has an opportunity to lead, but it’s what happens in those moments that can be scary and at sometimes, completely nerve racking.  A lot of the time you can feel the nervousness in your veins and all you want to do is scream and run around flailing your arms in the air.  

But what does it mean to be nervous?  Well in my opinion, it simply means showing or feeling the stress that comes from something taking place in your life.  Is it important?  In a way, I’d say yes.  The reason why is because, when we are stressed and nervous, we are more cautious and observant therefore the job we are going will be better done or better led.

The reason I wrote this column on leading is because at my school, L.D.S. Church College Pesega, I’m running for Student Body President and I’m a little nervous waiting to see how the people voted.  My feelings and wishes of leading my fellow schoolmates for this year went into the poem I included in this column.

Including me, there are five students running for the position as President.  Each one of them I’ve known since middle school and I don’t know if they feel the same, but I consider them friends.  I love my school and so do the other four students running for President, yet I feel that I could do so much more for my school if I were SBP (Student Body President) and if I end up not being the one coming out on top with the highest votes, I just would feel disappointed I lost that chance to do something in my last year of high school.

A lot of questions came through my mind while I was waiting during this previous weekend and one that stuck out for me was, “What makes a leader a leader?”  The answer I settled on was, “A leader isn’t measured or defined depending on his or her feats of strength, on whether he or she has the most achievements, or on how long he has been a leader, but on what he or she decides to do in the heat of every battle or in times of great peril.

I want to share a saying I made up and said during my speech for SBP.  It goes like this, “Our school is the best school, because one: “We are all team players”, two: “We commit to our cause”, and three: “We work towards things we know we deserve.”  So we will fight for our faith, we will win every war, and we will live every lesson.”

In next week’s column, I will write about the outcome of my school’s votes, but I just want everyone to know that we all have the potential to be leaders as long as we trust in the Lord and follow our instincts.  If we follow this, we can never go wrong.