To The Class of 2020

Here we are again; another June brings another graduation season, albeit a different one than years past.  I'd like to share some things that I have learned over the years with you; allow me to beg your indulgence for a few moments (I'll spare you the paragraph or so about how "you've had it so rough"). 

• Ferris Bueller had it right when he said that "time goes by pretty fast" (1).  You think that you have all the time in the world; then, WHAM, you're pushing forty like me.  Nothing is guaranteed, not even tomorrow.  Therefore, take the time to experience all that life has to offer.  Make every day, every hour, every moment count...because you may never get another one.  

• Your teachers have probably told you that with a little hard work, you can change the world.  Hard work notwithstanding, don't try to change everything.  There are some things in this world that will never change, no matter what.  Attempting to change these things will only drive you crazy; they aren't worth losing your sanity over.  Instead, change what you can, where you can; don't worry about the rest.   

• Life is hard, and frequently unfair.  Sylvester Stallone (as "Rocky Balboa") put it better than I ever could.  In a quote from the movie "Rocky Balboa", he comments,

             "Life ain't all rainbows and butterflies.  It will bring you to your knees, and leave you there permanently if you let it....but it ain't about how hard you hit.  It's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward.  That's how winning is done!" (2)

             Every now and then, you will feel as if you have been "knocked to the canvas", so to speak.  In these moments, the best thing that you can do is to get up, brush yourself off, and "punch back".  Don't let a temporary setback or challenge knock you out.  Instead, learn from your mistakes, and turn defeats into victories.  

• At Fairfield Warde High School, there is a small mural that has been there since my high school days.  An inscription on the artwork quotes Polonius in Act I Scene III of "Hamlet"; "this above all, to thine own self be true" (3).  Have you ever wondered what the meaning of this quote could be? It is, simply, that you shouldn't waste time trying to be someone that you're not.  Rather, you should be your own person, and live your own life.  Don't forget that you, and only you, are the architect of your own future.  

For you, the Class of 2020, the end of your high school days draws near.  This is a time for celebration.  Soon, you will be able to throw your graduation caps in the air, as I myself did twenty years ago (yes, it's been that long).  You've come a long way; in four short years, you've gone from wide-eyed freshmen to being the "big people on campus".  Yes, you've done it; you've made your own way, and created your own traditions.  Don't forget that you, and only you, are the architect of your own future.  Break the mold, create the future, and have fun.  

I think that it is appropriate here to drop one last literary quote, that being William Ernest Henley's poem "Invictus".  

"Out of the night which covers me

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.  

In the fell clutch of circumstance,

I have not winced nor cried aloud.  

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.  

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate;

I am the captain of my soul." (4)

Congratulations to all.  

Sources:

1. Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Paramount Pictures, 1986.  Director: John Hughes.

2. Rocky Balboa. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 2006.  Director: Sylvester Stallone.  

3. Shakespeare, William. "Hamlet." 1603. 

4. Henley, William Ernest. "Invictus." Book of Verses, 1888.