OurGirl: Class of 2008 Commencement Address

Sunshine go away today, I don't feel much like dancin'
Some man's gone, he's tried to run my life
Don't know what he's askin'

He tells me I'd better get in line Can't hear what he's sayin'
When I grow up, I'm gonna make it mine These ain't dues I been payin'

How much does it cost? I'll buy it. The time is all we've lost. I'll try it.
He can't even run his own life, I'll be damned if he'll run mine
Sunshine

Sunshine. lyrics by Jonathan Edwards

this past weekend, i attended a high school graduation. i remember my graduation being long and boring, but this attendance was quick and meaningful—this is most likely as i am older now and have less life to live. rimshot! but i have to say, its cool to be on this side of the fence and just be an observer of the day. very freeing not to be the grad, thinking about the future and decisions needing to be made. very freeing not to be the parent of the grad, thinking about their future and all their decisions needing to be made. the grad ceremony i attended featured a motivational speaker and he lived up to his title. pretty motivating. as i listened, i thought—excellent blog topic—let's give a commencement address. i've been running into troubles being inspired to post on the blog. stories about how i don't own a microwave or how my kids watch youtube instead of tv seem pretty lackluster. so i set up a rough draft of the blog and then googled some commencement speeches, just to check out the competition. after hitting some awesome speeches, i realized i had nothing particularly brilliant to discuss.

lackluster, even.

there is no way my life would be considered inspirational or even a cautionary tale. its not that i don't love my life—i do—its more along the lines of looking at someone who is at the start of their adult lives and thinking: "Yeh. I got nothing for you."

i have, however, plenty of advice for my son who is too young to graduate:

• GET SERIOUS ABOUT KEYBOARDING. ITS A GPA BUILDER, SON!
• DONT TALK BACK TO ME
• TAKE A LOOK AROUND YOU, FOR PETE'S SAKE!
• JUST BECAUSE THEY DO, DOESNT MEAN YOU CAN OR THAT I WILL LET YOU
• THE CRANE MACHINE GAME IS FOR SUCKERS. PROMISE ME YOU WON'T GO TO VEGAS WHEN YOU GROW UP.

and on and on. but by the time kids reach the end of their high school careers, all that sort of talk falls on a closed mind. i can tell you from experience it falls on 11 year old closed minds as well.

so even tho most aren't listening, here are a few things i think would be most relevant to share:

• don't be afraid to not commit to anything. i think whenever i look back, the areas of my life i'm not the most enthusiastic about are when i rushed into committing to a decision and then sticking to it. because i made a commitment.
• don't be afraid to say: this is over my head or this isnt what i want to do. be brave to extricate yourself from any commitment you were foolish enough to take on.
• don't be afraid to follow your passion. it will make you most happy, even when you aren't happy.
• don't be afraid of expressing enthusiasm. its stupid, but people will look at you and think dork. but every once in a while, you'll find someone who shares that particular enthusiasm and then they are totally grateful you are sharing with them. and that feels good.
• don't be afraid. i'm only added that in because i seem to be on an unintentional tear about being afraid. whatever.
  

here are a links to speeches better than my post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/samantha-power/message-to-graduates-be-a_b_103886.html
http://www.commencement.harvard.edu/2003/ferrell.html
http://www.wm.edu/news/?id=3650
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/01/hindsights.html