To The Graduating Class of 2023...

Generally, yesterday represented the end of the school year.  The last day of class and many graduations across the state and country.  And my thoughts go to the wisdom that many will try to impart last night and today through those ceremonies in commencement speeches, while the newly free minds will be focused on one thing and one thing only: walking across that stage so that everything is finally finished.

I know of no reason why I would ever be asked to give a commencement speech, but were such an occasion ever to present itself, this is what I was say.  (I should note, that the speech itself probably gives good reason why I'll never be asked to do so.)

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Ladies and gentlemen, family and friends, administration and faculty, graduating class of 2023, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you tonight.  I hope you know how much of an honor I consider this to be, to be given the opportunity to impart one more lesson on this special night.

Though I realize it was [cough - mumbled inaudible number of] years ago when I was in your position, that time seems to have galloped by.  And remembering how I felt that night, I will try to keep these comments brief, and hopefully a little entertaining, so that we can get to the part of the ceremony that everyone is truly here for.

Tonight is a moment of transition.  The point where a chapter closes and an entirely new chapter begins.  For some, that is continued academic pursuit through college or trade school.  For some, that means the enlistment in the service of our country.  For some, that means the beginning of their profession.  Many, many different chapters, different stories starting here.  Tonight. 

In that vein, I want to impart a few wishes for you as you new story begins.

First, I hope you fail.  

Good and hard.  At something you really wanted to achieve and worked for.  

I know this sounds harsh, but it serves a purpose.

It means you stretched yourself outside the known and comfortable.  You tried something new.  And you cared enough to give it your all.  

It means you are growing.  That you are continuing to be and develop.

And it you do, you would be in good company.

Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas."  After that, he started a number of businesses that did not last too long, ending in bankruptcy and failure.  He lost his only creative success at the time to a rival, when Oswald the Lucky Rabbit went to Universal.  But he kept plugging away and found a recipe for success that worked, all thanks to a little mouse.  Walt would later state "It is good to have a failure while you're young because it teaches you so much...and once you've lived through the worst, you're never quite as vulnerable afterward."

In fact, you can see this occur repeatedly in the lives of people that we find successful now.  Oprah Winfrey was demoted from her job as a news anchor because she "wasn't fit for TV."  The Beatles were rejected by Decca Recording because the company "didn't like their sound" and stated that they "have no future in show business."  Albert Einstein's teachers said he would "never amount to much."  J.K. Rowling was rejected by publisher after publisher until she found one that would finally publish her little book series.

What we see from each of these people is that failure is only a problem if you do not learn anything from it.  If you never try again.  If you give up.

So when you fail, approach it like a scientist.  That particular experiment did not work, so change the variables.  

Or approach it like an artist.  Revise and go back to the drawing board.  

Or like an athlete.  Get back up off the mat and keep swinging.

Whatever metaphor works for you, use it.  Let it be your drive.  Try, fail, try again with changes from whatever you have learned.  And then repeat the cycle.  Just keep at it.

Similarly, I hope you get fired.  

From a job you like. And for unfair reasons. 

Because it removes the fear of the act. 

And it allows you to stand up when it matters. 

To speak up when those around you are being mistreated.  When you are being greatly undervalued. When you are being taken advantage of.

When you need to do what is right. 

Being fired frees you from the fear that it is the worst thing that can happen to you. That it is a final end. 

It’s not. It’s a change. It can be a new beginning. And speaking from personal experience, it can be the exact needed change at the exact right time. 

Further, being fired provides you a more intimate knowledge of your worth.  You now know exactly what you will and will not put up with in your employment.  It frees you to more directly seek that promotion, that raise, that benefit. After all, what’s the worst they can do, fire you?

Next, I hope you get your heart broken.

Because it means you have one.

And this is not just about romantic love.  Far from it.  It's about all kinds of love.  Love and kindness towards friends, family, strangers.  

It's about being willing to be charitable and gracious to your fellow man.  To look for the good in those around you.  Being open and a part of the community around you, rather than an isolated individual.

People today are able to be more connected to one another than ever before in human history.  We have so many communication tools that enable us to remain in contact on a global scale like never before.  But we are also more lonely and distant from one another in our unplugged lives.  

This dichotomy cannot remain.  

Human beings were not meant to function as islands.  We are social creatures - science shows we suffer greatly when our social bonds are threatened or severed.  C.S. Lewis described humanity as "one great need."  We are all apart of this need and we need each other more than we would care to admit.

I know there are many of you here tonight who have reason to be cautious, reason to be distrusting because of what has occurred in your lives.  I recognize and understand.  Do be cautious, do be measured, but please do not let your past and the bad actions of others completely isolate you from the world.  There are resources available that can help.  And there are avenues and causes to which you can contribute.

So care.  Be passionate and embrace your causes and those around you.  We've seen where division gets us.  Let's try a new approach.

Additionally, I hope you question everything you believe in.

Because only then will you know what you truly believe.  What you are willing to stand for.  What will remain when everything else falls away.

Part of growing up is learning who you are.  Discovering you identity.  And what you really believe.  All to often we try to hold on to "inherited beliefs,"  those that were passed on to us by our parents, our teachers, or the community we grew up in.  The problem with "inherited beliefs" is that they rarely take root because they are not earned or experienced, just observed.

James Baldwin wrote "people are trapped in history and history is trapped in them."  Far too many people are trapped in the beliefs of others around them.  They live the lives they believe they are supposed to live.  And are doing so half-heartedly, at best, or begrudgingly at worst.

My hope is that from this day forward you start exploring the world around you in such a way that leads you to formulate your own firmly held beliefs derived from experience and knowledge.  And for you to keep refining them.  For you to read, read, read, read and explore any areas you have questions about.  For you to ask others and listen far more than you speak.  For you to continue to re-evalute, refine, and refresh your beliefs based on new information and experiences.

I hope you to travel.  Mark Twain put it best when he said "travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.  Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."  Go see the world and explore places you never thought you would visit.  Get to know the people there and let them inform your understanding of the world.  Let them change you.

I hope you make a variety of new friends.  You do not need more friends that think and act exactly like you.  Make friends with people who challenge you.  Who disagree with you.  And who aren't afraid to discuss these differences with you.  Iron sharpens iron only when it meets at an angle; from a different perspective.  

Discover who you are and from here on, live life only as that person.

Finally, I hope that high school represents the worst years of your life.

Because, I hope, your best days are ahead of you.

I hope none of you have had any truly horrific experiences from these past four years.  To any that have, my deepest and heartfelt condolences.  I pray for healing and comfort for you and those affected.

I wanted to address this topic to specifically address a mindset that can become all too prevalent.  To view high school as "the glory days."  "The greatest years of my life."  

Your best years should be ahead of you.  Tonight should represent merely the closing of an early chapter in your book, in which I pray you have many, many more chapters ahead.  And that is where the plot should get really good.

I know some of you here tonight are waiting, almost impatiently, for something different than high school.  You never quite fit in, never felt you belonged, you were just ready to get out.  And I can say, that while somethings never change, generally, yes, it does get better.

For those of you that are not ready to leave this behind, let me challenge you to run toward the new opportunities in your path.  Remember, there are so many ways now to keep in contact with your roots here.  Cherish those connections, but make new ones as well.

And to those of you that feel trapped by your current circumstances, please know that it can get better.  It may take a fight and it may be long and hard fought, but there is a way.

Because truly, I'm counting on you all to make this a better world.  Your generation has shown a remarkable resilience and desire to change things for the better.  I need you to go out and do incredible things.  To make new inventions, to write new music, to make us laugh, to enact new policies and laws, to raise incredible children.  To protect us.  To defend us. To entertain us.  To correct us.  To lead us.

So go live your story.  And then tell us about it.  

I cannot wait to hear how it turns out.

Thank you.

To the Graduating Class of 2021

In Brownsburg, tonight represented the end of the school year.  The last day of class was a week ago.  Tonight is graduation.  My thoughts go to the wisdom that many will try to impart through commencement speeches, while the newly free minds will be focused on one thing and one thing only: walking across that stage so that everything is finally finished.

Like last year, I know of no reason why I would ever be asked to give a commencement speech, but were such an occasion ever to present itself, this is what I was say.  (I should note that, again, the speech itself probably gives good reason why I'll never be asked to do so.)

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Ladies and gentlemen, family and friends, administration and faculty, graduating class of 2021, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you tonight.  It is truly an honor and a privilege to be here and to join in this celebration and transition in your lives.

Though I realize it was [mumbled under breath] years ago when I was in your position, that time seems to have flown by.  From my graduation night, I've forgotten a lot of things.  I can't remember the speaker that was present.  I can't remember what was going through my head at the time.  I can't even remember the speech I gave.  It's lost in a fog of memories.  I do remember being ready to move quickly through the ceremony.  To get to the party at home, to get to Project Graduation.  To get on with this new beginning.  In that spirit, I will try to keep these comments brief, and hopefully a little entertaining, so that we can get to the part of the ceremony that everyone is truly here for.

I suspect, though, many of you will never forget this graduation, just like you will never forget this past year.  It was probably not the senior year you imagined growing up.  There were a lot of changes this year, and a lot of things to deal with throughout the year.

You more than most have learned how to adapt.  You've been forced into new learning environments, new technologies, new social norms, new world wide situations.  All of which continued to change throughout the year.  You likely had quarantines, and virtual learning, and many, many different accommodations.

And yet, you are still here.  

You have adapted, you have learned, you have grown.

That's the secret to life.  

To grow, to learn, to adapt and change.

To roll with it.

While I do not claim to have it all figured out, I do know this, life has a way of humbling us.  Even if we can perfect all the things in our control, something can always intervene.  Hurricanes, death, disease.  Quarantine.

What matters is how you respond to it?

Will you learn and grow from your situation?  Or will you try, foolishly, to remain unchanged?

Louise Erdich said, "Things that do not grow and change are dead things."  Are you alive or dead?

Have you learned something from this past year?  This interruption of life?  

Like many, are you looking forward to life returning to "normal"?  Or are you planning on making the new normal "better"?  More environmentally friendly, more inclusive, more equitable, more just?

I pray you do better than the status quo.  I pray you have learned that this season has revealed systemic issues that will fall to your generation to address.  Issues like:

• The need for better healthcare for all of us, healthcare that does not disproportionately affect specific communities.
• The need for better access to voting.  It shouldn't take a pandemic for us to plan for more accessible ways to vote than standing in lines.
• The need to value our vote.  It's under attack and we should be all interested in protecting our voice.
• The need for broadband internet as a public utility, accessible by all.  Education success should not depend on your ability to find and pay for high-speed internet.
• The need for better education funding and solutions.
• The need for a living minimum wage.  Our lowest paid workers were essential in this crisis. Many of our highest paid were not.  Think on that.
• The recognition of the impact we can have on our planet.  Look how quickly the planet started to heal itself when we were slowed down.
• The need to address our racial bias.  To address the sin that we have ignored for so long in this country.  The need to heal the wounds of slavery once and for all.

That's a big list.  It is daunting.  It contains a laundry list of things the generations before me and my generation have so far failed to accomplish.

Here's what we've also seen though.  

• We've seen the importance of science.  Though we have many that are doubting science and many that have tried to sow that doubt for political and financial power, we have also seen the power that science brings.  The amazing development of this vaccine, built on the back of years of research into this type of vaccine.
• We've seen the importance of art.  We like to downplay the arts, particularly when artists speak up and out, but we all made it through this past year and a half thanks to good art.  Television, movies, music.  That is what make quarantine bearable.
• We've seen the importance of history.  Of truly knowing history, especially the parts that we do not like to talk about.  The parts we have forgotten, or were never taught.  We've seen how that impacts our present.
• We've seen the importance of civics. The importance of raising our voice, of voting, and making an impact.  Of owning up to our history and implementing change to make it right.

This is why you are here.  Why this diploma is so valuable. Why it is so important for you to continue to foster a spirit of learning.  To be a continual student.  To not let this be the end of your journey, but just a beginning.

The great thing is, I think you are all up for the challenge.  The last two and a half months have proven you are ready for whatever life throws at you.  That you can adapt.  That you can learn.  That you can change. 

That you can do better than us.

Keep it up.

To The Graduating Class of 2020

In Wills Point, tonight represented the end of the school year.  The last day of class, with graduation tomorrow morning.  My thoughts go to the wisdom that many will try to impart through commencement speeches, while the newly free minds will be focused on one thing and one thing only: walking across that stage so that everything is finally finished.

Like last year, I know of no reason why I would ever be asked to give a commencement speech, but were such an occasion ever to present itself, this is what I was say.  (I should note that, again, the speech itself probably gives good reason why I'll never be asked to do so.)

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Ladies and gentlemen, family and friends, administration and faculty, graduating class of 2020, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you tonight.  It is truly an honor and a privilege to be here and to join in this celebration and transition in your lives.

Though I realize it was [mumbled under breath] years ago when I was in your position, that time seems to have galloped by.  From my graduation night, I've forgotten a lot of things.  I can't remember the speaker that was present.  I can't remember what was going through my head at the time.  I can't even remember the speech I gave.  It's lost in a fog of memories.  I do remember being ready to move quickly through the ceremony.  To get to the party at home, to get to Project Graduation.  To get on with this new beginning.  In that spirit, I will try to keep these comments brief, and hopefully a little entertaining, so that we can get to the part of the ceremony that everyone is truly here for.

I suspect, though, many of you will never forget this graduation.  It's probably not happening in the way you imagined it, if it's happening it all.  It may not be in person, and you may be hearing me via live stream or recorded message.  It may be happening at a much later time than you would have liked.  It may be happening with far fewer people in the audience, sitting much farther apart than they normally would.

And yet, life still goes on.

You more than most have learned how to adapt.  These last two and a half months have proved that.  You've been forced into new learning environments, new technologies, new social norms, new world wide situations.  And yet, you are here.  You have adapted, you have learned, you have grown.

That's the secret to life.  

To grow, to learn, to adapt and change.

To roll with it.

For while I do not claim to have it all figured out, I do know this, life has a way of humbling us.  Even if we can perfect all the things in our control, something can always intervene.  Hurricanes, death, disease.  Quarantine.

What matters is how you respond to it?

Will you learn and grow from your situation?  Or will you try, foolishly, to remain unchanged?

Louise Erdich said, "Things that do not grow and change are dead things."  Are you alive or dead?

Have you learned something from this quarantine?  This interruption of life?  Or are you focused on restoring the status quo?

I pray you do better than the status quo.  I pray you have learned that this season has revealed systemic issues that will fall to your generation to address.  Issues like:

• The need for better healthcare for all of us, healthcare that does not disproportionately affect specific communities.
• The need for better access to voting.  It shouldn't take a pandemic for us to plan for more accessible ways to vote than standing in lines.
• The need for broadband internet as a public utility, accessible by all.  Education success should not depend on your ability to find and pay for high-speed internet.
• The need for better education funding and solutions.
• The need for a living minimum wage.  Our lowest paid workers were essential in this crisis. Many of our highest paid were not.  Think on that.
• The recognition of the impact we can have on our planet.  Look how quickly the planet started to heal itself when we were slowed down.
• The need to address our racial bias.  To address the sin that we have ignored for so long in this country.  The need to heal the wounds of slavery once and for all.

That's a big list.  It is daunting.  It contains a laundry list of things the generations before me and my generation have so far failed to accomplish.

The great thing is, I think you are all up for the challenge.  The last two and a half months have proven you are ready for whatever life throws at you.  That you can adapt.  That you can learn.  That you can change. 

That you can do better than us.

Keep it up.

To the Graduating Class of 2019

In Wills Point, tonight represented the end of the school year.  The last day of class, with graduation tomorrow morning.  My thoughts go to the wisdom that many will try to impart through commencement speeches, while the newly free minds will be focused on one thing and one thing only: walking across that stage so that everything is finally finished.

Like last year, I know of no reason why I would ever be asked to give a commencement speech, but were such an occasion ever to present itself, this is what I was say.  (I should note that, again, the speech itself probably gives good reason why I'll never be asked to do so.)

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Ladies and gentlemen, family and friends, administration and faculty, graduating class of 2019, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you tonight.  It is truly an honor and a privilege to be here and to join in this celebration and transition in your lives.

Though I realize it was [unpronounceable] years ago when I was in your position, that time seems to have galloped by. In that spirit, I will try to keep these comments brief, and hopefully a little entertaining, so that we can get to the part of the ceremony that everyone is truly here for.

When you look at the years in which you all have come of age, it's pretty incredible.  A majority of you were never alive when the Twin Towers stood, and we have been at constant war throughout your entire life.  You have also lived through years where school shootings and violence have been a common occurrence, with Columbine occurring a good two years before most of you were born.

You are the social media generation, with MySpace and Facebook coming online when you were toddlers.  As such, you have grown up in an era when your entire life is an open book online, for all its good and ill.

You've also come through school as we have increasingly attacked the foundation of your education.  Added test after test.  Expected teachers to do more with less, seeing them still work magic.  And seen cuts after cuts to different programs in your schools.

With this in mind, I have an initial message that I would like to pass along that I feel needs to be said:

You are stronger and more formidable than anyone has believed.  And your generation has demonstrated more determination to change the world than any of the immediately preceding ones.

And it's because of that determination, I have a few things I'd like to ask you to consider, so that you do better than all us previous generations combined.

1. Get a trade - no doubt you have heard a lot of advice regarding college and how everyone needs to go to college. While college is great, it's not for everyone and there is a great need for people to go into various trades.  Trade schools are a great way to get practical education in a variety of fields that are in demand.  For electricians and technicians.  For welders, for machinists, mechanics, and operators.  For builders.  For fixers.  For makers.  Do not undervalue the importance of skilled labor.  And if that is your calling or your gift, please consider it.
2. Stay involved - It has been refreshing to see the youth voices in politics and political issues and we need you to stay involved.  We need you to be good citizens.  To stay updated on current events.  To be active voters, demonstrators, protesters, organizers, contributors, donors, voices.  There are complete systems we need new voices in to completely restructure.  There are causes that need to be championed.  There are rights, institutions, and traditions that need to be protected.  And we're counting on you to be involved.
3. Take care of the planet - there is a lot of talk about how much time we have to save the planet before it becomes too late.  And whether that time can be measured in single years, decades, or centuries, it is important for us to be better stewards of the place that we call home.  Our ocean is filling with trash and plastic.  There are tens of thousands of species that are facing extinction each year.  And we're running out of basic elements that have long factored into our biosphere like helium.  The good news is that the solutions to help solve these crises that we are facing will come from your generation.  It's a terrible inheritance, but it is one that we all need to be committed to facing.
4. Set better priorities - The last thing we need for you to do is make corporations and shareholders more money.  We've seen the results of that and we know where that path leads.  Instead, create better art.  Make life better.  Enact better policy.  Solve the work-life balance through better companies and better policies.  Raise and educate kids better.  Have better relationships.  No one at the end of their life wished they spent more time at work.  They might wish they had done something greater or more fulfilling.  Seek that out instead.
5. Treat the world as your neighborhood - With the great strides in communication and travel, there is no reason to not be a greater citizen of the world.  Go see and learn about other countries.  Experience life somewhere else.  Learn a new language.  Engage with different cultures, different races, different religions.  Take the time to see how similar we truly all are.  
6. Be kind - finally, be kind.  Always, be kind.  Be charitable and kind.  We live in an ugly world and you have seen more of the ugliness through media and social media than any of us.  We don't need to do anything to add to the ugliness.  So why not combat it.  Add to the kindness.  The Dalai Lama is quoted as saying "The purpose of our life needs to be positive.  We weren't born with the purpose of causing trouble, harming others.  For our life to be of value, I think we must develop basic human qualities - warmth, kindness, compassion.  Then our life becomes meaningful and more peaceful - happier."  Let that be our motto.

I know that is a pretty heavy list and it is a very lofty goal.  But I can assure you, it is worth it.  We need you and we believe in you.  Tonight represents a transition in which you close an early chapter of your book and start off on a wild new adventure.  And I know that among you, that adventure is going to lead to exciting new discoveries, to great change, and needed healing.  It will bring challenges and surprises.  

Please don't give up.  We're counting on you.

You got this.