On Commencement

It is that season when graduating classes will sit in tight and airless auditoriums or hot outdoor venues and on their heads will sit the cap and tassel so representative of their achievement. The culmination of effort, accident, and parental dreams.  The hard won finish line to the first great race of any student's life.  Take a deep breath, that is not the flower arrangements in the air, that is the stuff of dreams and hopes.

It is a time when wise and sage advice are actively sought and so occasionally given. Having attended many of these events, in my own academic efforts and as member of a faculty of higher education, I have some thoughts on such matters.  Were I able to be at each and every one of those events I think I would tell them this...

Dream! If you can find what you love and then do it.  Your biggest barrier is your own belief or lack of belief is yourself.     Remember  these important things - 

• Never stop learning. The wise store up knowledge but the mouth of a fool invites ruin.  Prov. 10:14
• Keep a gentle spirit all your life.  A kindhearted woman gains honor, but ruthless men gain only wealth. Prov. 11:16
• Choose your companions carefully.  He who walks with wise becomes wise, but a companion of fools comes to a bad end. Proverbs 13:20. 
• Keep going and never give up. But he knoweth the way that I take: [when] he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Job 13:20. It is not the falling down that counts but the getting back up to face the challenge. It is the determination to never give up but to get trying, striving, and doing.

The gathered crowds at all those events will finally toss those caps high in the air, give a rousing cheer and slap one another on the back.  

Those students, friends and parents will pose for photos, laugh and share hugs and then go out to celebrate the milestone achieved.

When the dust has settled and life looks them in the face....

I hope they remember those few simple things.  They make life a lot easier when all is said and done.  Because...when all is said and done  - that is what you made of your life.