Commencement
I spent yesterday at my niece’s graduation here in Albany NY. It was my sister’s youngest daughter graduating, and the third graduation here in four years.
I have been to what seems like a lot of high school and college graduations the last few years. There has been a steady stream of family graduations as well as the graduations of kids that were on my basketball team in Raleigh. I always dread the speeches that are given by the valedictorian and salutatorian because it seems like they are reading from a script or library of “things you should say in your commencement address.”
What I would love to hear at a high school graduation is not the usual “we have a big, scary, exciting world in front of us that we have been so well prepared for” kind of speech, but rather something unique and interesting. Talk about a subject that is close to your heart. Challenge your classmates ( and, for that matter ) the adults in the audience to change something real and tangible. Talk about a cause that you have come to know about and think is noteworthy.
Maybe I am asking too much. I know when I was that age, I did not look beyond the end of my own nose. But, if you are getting ready to graduate and have the opportunity to talk to a group of other students and adults, why not use it to inspire us?
Just a thought.
Happy Fathers Day to everyone out there. I am headed home to my family and can’t wait to get there.
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