thoughts on the news of the day: graduation

hmmm…..

            This weekend is graduation weekend.  High schools and colleges all over the United States are holding commencement exercises – if they haven’t already.  I remember giving a graduation speech to a high school class in Andrews, TX a long time ago – it was held in the convention center which was little more than a large assembly hall.  They usually had it at the football field but it was raining that day.  Now that doesn’t happen very often in west Texas, but it poured on that evening.

            The hall was packed.  Sadly, each graduate was issued four tickets for family to attend.  This meant that grandmas and grandpas for the most part were not able to see their grandchildren receive a diploma.  Maybe it wasn’t a big deal for some families.  But for the poor oil field families in that area, it was in many cases the first person from their family to ever graduate from a high school.  It was a big deal.

            I said a few words that day, told a story and sat down.  I figured with such a huge crowd packed in such a small venue, things were going to get very restless if graduates didn’t start walking across the stage pretty soon. 

            To the graduates of today, I would say pretty much the same thing I did on that rainy night – which boils down to this:  “Wherever you go, what ever you do, remember that everyone is in need of you.  You have something to offer that no one else can offer to the world.  So don’t be afraid to try.”

            hmmm…..