Thank you to my parents and assorted relatives from all over the place. Thank you to my classmates and teachers for making these past years worth remembering.
This is a rather important day, one we've been working four, sometimes five years toward. It deserves an inspirational speech, an uplifiting one, one that will spur us all onward to greater and greater heights of achievement. A speech about... The Meaning Of Life! Unfortunately, I don't know what that is. So you're stuck with this one.
Well, if we don't know the meaning of life, we're stuck with two options. A: we sit around waiting to either kick the bucket or have a big spiritual revelation (complete with bright lights and background music), or B: we make up our own meaning of life to operate by. I've chosen choice B, basically because it seems much more exciting than watching life go by.
Maybe your meaning of life is to become a biochemist and discover the cure for AIDS. Maybe it's to fight world hunger or government corruption or to save the rainforests. Maybe it's to be a great parent or a good friend to someone who matters to you. Maybe it's to give away flowers to strangers in airports.
The important thing is that you do something and that it's what you want to do. In the end, most of the measures of success that the world gives us mean nothing. You can be rich, beautiful, popular, and featured in any magazine of your choice and still doubt yourself. You might be a success in other people's eyes, but unless you are fulfilling your own potential, you will be failing yourself. Why be a doctor or a lawyer when you really want to write or act or teach or open up a pizza place? What matters is that you feel you're doing something good, even if it is giving out flowers to strangers in airports.
Well, most of us have dreams somewhat bigger than that, but whether they seem great or ambitious to other people doesn't matter at all as long as we do what it takes to achieve them. We're going to run into obstacles no matter what we do, whether it's stress, or outside responsibilities, or lack of money, or bad auditions, or returned manuscripts, or failed exams, or endless job interviews, or the disapproval of family or friends or the world in general. The sacrifices and the hard work will only be something to be bitter about unless you know that this is what you're meant to be doing. And if it is what you want to be doing, don't let fear or despair be another obstacle in your path.
F.D.R. was right when he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." If you're paralyzed by fear, chances are you won't be your best, and you'll never know if you could have succeeded. If you have faith in yourself, you will keep trying until you succeed.
Each of us has talents the world desperately needs, and it is our responsibility to develop those talents. It's our city, our community, our country, our planet. We can either walk through the world and leave it in the same or worse condition than we found it in, or we can work to make it a little better for the next person who comes along. Not everyone has to be a powerful politician, famous philanthropist, or avid activist to clean up a little of the mess. Even the flower guy in the airport could be making people realize that the world has its bright spots, and the combined effects of all those good moods might just change the world. It's not really that much of a stretch.
All the pessimists in the room will please stop listening now.
Now that they won't be offended by what I'm going to say, let's all just feel sorry for them for a minute. They really limit themselves. They don't think they have a chance, so they never try. They never look for anything beautiful in the world, so they never find it. But anyway, we optimists can imagine a world where everybody does just a little bit to help out.
It's like the sidewalk in front of the school. It's littered with cigarette butts, soda bottles, and other icky stuff. But if every graduating senior took a quick walk to Chris's deli and picked up a few pieces of trash to throw out, it would actually start to look pretty good.
So, now that you know how to save the world, please poke your pessimistic neighbors so they can hear the conclusion of my speech.
It's been an interesting four years. I'd like to thank Mrs. Estes for her microwave, Mr. Vertullo for putting up with me, Mr. Petersen for being a phenomenal principal, and Joe for continued support of the Encore Players.
And now... let us commemorate this most solemn occasion of our graduation with a moment of wild exuberance!
Pretty wild, huh? Thank you and have a great life.