Challenge to 2015 (Be Different)

Well graduates, it seems you’ve done it. Congratulations, you’ve got your diploma. Now the real work starts. I’m going to help you out here will some challenging advice.

You’ve grown up immersed in technology which is still growing at an exponential rate. While I don’t realistically foresee a future where we are enslaved by robots, it already seems we’re already slaves, not to technology, but to the culture that’s come with it.

I’m going to issue you a challenge. If you accept it and accomplish it, you will have done something powerful that sets you apart from nearly every other graduate in the western world. It’s breaking the bonds to that culture. Brace yourself, I’m going to tell you what you should do.

Once you’ve got your diploma and twirled your liripoop, here’s what you’re going to do. Don’t take a selfie.

Every kid your age is going to be doing it. You can stand out from the crowd in a radical way. Don’t take a selfie after you’ve graduated. In fact, don’t take one for 12 hours after this ceremony. 

Some of you might have ambitions to change the world. You can start by not making it about you. Don’t take a selfie. Others among you might just want to be rich. How are you going to do that? Be different. Don’t take a selfie. Some of you, perhaps many of you, might not know what to do with your life. Start by doing something memorable. Stand with confidence that this moment will endure even if it’s not captured in a digital image. Don’t take a selfie.

If the rest of the world is doing it, stand out and don’t do it. But if this post goes viral, imagine that. What if the class of 2015 could be known as the class that graduated and social media went dark that night? What would the world think of those graduates who thought more of the world than themselves?

Share this post if you believe in something bigger than yourself. Let’s use social media to make it about something other than a collection of images. Let’s make it real this year. #donttakeaselfe

Commencement 2014

Pomp and Circumstance plays in the background.

Hello my liripoop twirling young men and women. So, you’ve managed to fulfill the requirements laid down by your institution of learning to merit a slip of paper that claims you are ready for the world. If, today, I appear somewhat cynical, it may be that I’m older than you and the person next to you combined. I can tell you that in my first 18 years of life, I learned a lot. But in the next 18 I learned even more. I’m only halfway through my next 18 years, and good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, I should be around at the end of that. And who knows what the culture and technology will be like then?

You will indulge my angry old man attitude here, you ought to because your diplomas are here next to me and I could spill my coffee on them if I felt ignored. Yes, in my day we didn’t have social networks. If we wanted to communicate with someone, we had to use a land line. And if, when I was 18 years old, you called the telephone a “land line” you would not have been understood. If you wanted movie times or store hours, you used a phone. If you wanted a driving directions, you had to get a real map you could hold in your hand. If you wanted facts and information, well, we had newspapers, magazines and books.

But today, if I don’t know how to spell a word, I just type it into my computer and it will tell me if I’m right. It might even correct it for me. This has gotten to the point where I might be writing something by hand and I will wait to see if I have a red underline beneath something I’ve written in pen. To tell you the truth, young graduates, I love today’s technology. I can go on the inter-webs and go to The Face Book dot com and look up the group of folks that I graduated with and revel in the knowledge that they are just as old looking as I am. Ha-ha, or should I say, lol, right?

Okay, I understand that there’s no stopping what’s happening and that, for the most part, this new technology is something good. But put your phones down for a moment and hear me out. The wisdom I have to dispense while standing up here is almost finished, and you know what? It’s not worth much. Did I just say that? I think so. You see, when I look all over the internets I see inspirational quotes, sometimes set against some kind of background that is supposed to reinforce the supposed wisdom of what is being stated. Sometimes the quote will be attributed to someone, a pop culture icon or and admired historical figure who’s in favor at the time.

Young graduates, clever soundbites are no match for a few years of trial and error. You are going to make mistakes, some will hurt and some will cost you. However, don’t let any of them be wasted. You will learn more from the mistakes you make than any wisdom offered on social networks.

Out those doors, there’s a real world that does not distinguish how you’ve decorated the flat cap your liripoop hangs from. By all means, have confidence as you go out into it. But know that things will happen that you didn’t plan and didn’t wish for. Those incidents will be where the real learning is.

I’ve taken up enough of your time. My coffee is just about finished and I need to use the restroom now. If you remember one thing from this message, it’s that there is only one you, not done growing in wisdom and knowledge. Please be safe as you celebrate. Live to experience another day. 

Walking and Passing

Pomp and Circumstance music plays in the background.

     Greetings graduates. I see the sea of those little hats with the dangling  liripoops out there looking for all the world like you all walked here balancing books on your heads. Your eyes look excited, frightened, unsure, I don’t blame anyone for looking that way. There’s a world out there that eats naiveté for breakfast.

     I don’t pretend to know what they are teaching in schools these days. But I know what it’s like to be your age, and regardless of changing culture and technology, you are at the edge of childhood advancing forward to adulthood. You may or may not have a good idea what to do with your lives. You may or may not know how to go about it. But how many of you can honestly say that you don’t want to do something significant? You might be thinking: “What difference can I make in the world?”

     And the world might look so daunting that you would rather be back in kindergarten eating glue. It’s alright. The world is scary. You can be frightened. But here’s what you can’t do. You can’t go back. No matter how many bottles of glue you eat, you’ll never be six again.

     But here is the encouraging news. You can make a difference. It doesn’t have to mean going out into the world and discovering a marvelous cure for all known diseases or writing the Great American Novel. I want to tell you today that you can make a difference in the world just by being who you truly are.

     21 years ago when I had a friend in the hospital with a broken leg, life was scary for her. The trauma of the car accident, the pain of a broken femur and the misery of a hospital stay all weighed down on my friend. But we had another friend down the hall. She was another patient at the time recovering from abdominal surgery. We didn’t get generic “get well soon” messages or any one-upmanship for pain stories. What we got were cheerful words and smiles.

And in that two week hospital stay, one of the greatest moments was when our friend joyfully announced to us that she had finally passed gas, a significant objective following abdominal surgery. We were overjoyed with her.

My dear graduates, be yourselves and bring joy to the world with things as little as a breath of wind. You don’t need to try hard at all to be yourself. It’s how you were made. You may think that the world is like a cavernous hospital corridor, dark and wide and frightening. So do what my friend did and plod down that hall as best as you can in order to work out what needs to be passed. And when the little victories come, look for them, they will, share that joy with others.

Graduates as you rise to take your diploma, I encourage each of you to smile at the person handing it to you. Let that smile say you’ve passed something and are ready to move on.

Allegorical Bootstraps

Pomp and Circumstance plays in the background

     Congratulations graduates of the class of 2012.  For better or worse, you have succeeded in getting your diploma.  Hopefully all you put into earning it has given you a glimpse of the fact that important things in life are not free and require time and effort.  Even this commencement address is part of the price you pay for graduation.  While you sit there in your cap and gown, thinking about after parties, graduation gifts, and goodness knows what else, I am going to consume some of that time.

     Hear me out.  You can’t pull yourself up by the bootstraps if you always go around barefoot.  While some of you nod as if you understand, others blink in confusion. 

     What did he mean by that? You wonder.  I’ll tell you something else.  You may already be aware that in your lives today you are bombarded with witticisms from everywhere.  In my day they were mostly on bumper stickers and T-shirts.  Now, thanks to modern technology we see them in every social media.  Quotes from everyone, ancient philosophers to modern celebrities are pasted everywhere.  Put into whatever context is fitting we smile and agree, or like, or re-tweet. 

     Graduates, I hope that none of you think that on this day you are done learning.  You’ve just spent years having your minds filled with names and dates, facts and figures and all sorts of information and knowledge that you may or may not ever use in your life.  And on the last day of classes you may have relaxed a bit, thinking that’s all over now.  But even those of you not moving on to higher learning institutions are not done learning.  In fact the real learning begins now. 

     You are entering into a time of your life when you begin to learn about yourself.  You may be learning new job skills soon or learning what it takes to survive your first month in college.  The truth is that you are headed out into the real world soon.  I hope you can allow yourself to make mistakes, learn what works for you. 

     Soundbites and witticisms are no way to navigate yourself.  Having a single life motto isn’t enough.  There are too many things you might encounter.  As for me, I needed to keep learning how to face new situations with more than have a clever retort. 

     What do bootstraps have to do with it all?  Not a lot.  But I thought it sounded pretty wise.  It only took a moment of contemplation to realize it didn’t really make sense.  Graduates, do you think that you can look at the quotes and tweets and whatever new things are out there that this old man isn’t even aware of, and think about them for a moment or two before concluding that they are all that wise?

     Remember we all are still learning.  Even this old man is.  We have a need to know what is best for ourselves and loved ones.  And sometimes I need to take off my boots and feel around with my toes what the temperature of the water is, or how soft the grass is, or if the kitten is under the bed waiting to attack.

     And what if I am down and need to pull myself up and I’m barefoot at the time and have no bootstraps?  Well I think I have my own way.  But you graduates, all of you are different from me and each other.  That is the point I'm trying to make. It is up to you to learn what works for you. There is joy in discovery.  Now flip your liripoop, pull those boots off and take a few steps.