Graduation Day
I recently attended the high school and middle school graduations of the sons of friends. As always, I was impressed by the maturity of the graduates, especially compared to what I remembered of my own fellow graduates. The class speakers were excellent, avoiding the cliches and repetitive advice of other speakers I've heard. I was also struck by how young everyone looks now; when I saw the teachers enter, I thought they were the graduates. The pride of the parents and the teachers was palpable, as it should be. These are significant accomplishments. The happiness of the graduates was fun to see.
Graduation day is an important milestone. It's the first opportunity for most of these young people to complete something, to stick with something to the end. It has its bittersweet qualities in that old friends may now follow different paths, the most comfortable part of the graduates' lives is over, they now start over as beginners in new schools, new situations, with new people. Sometimes people who succeed in high school find their lives declining, that new friends are hard to come by, that even at these early ages they feel mortality. But from my age and situation in life, I can see only the boundless opportunities the graduates will have, the opportunities that life gives to the young, the opportunities they've created for themselves by their good performances. I hope the graduates can be sufficiently aware of how fortunate they are to be young.
The most important graduation gift is one that every graduate receives: the gift of opportunity, the chance every graduate will now have to do different things, to continue to improve themselves. As much as we may act like it's a conclusion, an ending, graduation day marks the beginning of the rest of the graduates' lives. The graduates now have the basis for great things. This end of the beginning of their education will set the stage for their future education, for the process of learning which, I hope, will never end. They are now better prepared to understand themselves. They are now better prepared to understand others and help them.
Instead of happy graduation day, I want to say happy beginnings, smooth sailing for the rest of your lives. Never stop learning, never stop trying to be a better person.
6-16-03
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