{"id":3030,"date":"2024-05-26T22:38:31","date_gmt":"2024-05-27T02:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chocolateforyourbrain\/?p=3030"},"modified":"2024-05-26T23:16:49","modified_gmt":"2024-05-27T03:16:49","slug":"graduation-speeches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/chocolateforyourbrain\/2024\/05\/graduation-speeches\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduation Speeches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cThe world will little note, nor long remember what we say here.\u201d \u2013President Abraham Lincoln from the Gettysburg Address.
\n
\nThis is the attitude everyone should hold if asked to give a speech at the end of a commencement.\u00a0 \u00a0When someone says something that is memorable, skads of internet ink gets spilt taking the offending person to the woodshed.\u00a0 \u00a0I won\u2019t be doing that here, it\u2019s been overdone.\u00a0 What I will do, is counsel aspiring graduation speakers.<\/p>\n

Given that I have been going to graduations since 2012, almost every year, whether college or high school, and an occasional grad school and middle school thrown in there, (with the exception of 2020), I have tips to offer to those who get tapped for this sort of honor.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Be humble, be brief, and recognize that if you do it right, it\u2019s rather like a homily.\u00a0 \u00a0People listening might find something to keep, but most will be thinking about getting to shake hands, get their diploma and going out to celebrate.\u00a0 Your job is to inform and entertain, not convince.<\/h4>\n \nWhile at graduation, one dean tried to convey a novel concept, \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to fail spectacularly.\u201d\u00a0 and it\u2019s a good way to think about life, and about thriving.\u00a0 It might have been better if the Dean weren\u2019t the head of engineering, because no one wants\u00a0 a building or machine that fails spectacularly, but I loved that she said it. \n \nTry over and over again, Keep trying.\u00a0 Figure out why whatever it is isn\u2019t working, and adjust accordingly, but keep trying.\u00a0 \u00a0Life is the triumph of hope over experience that sometimes leads to unexpected triumph.\u00a0 The keynote speaker said, \u201cChoose tough\u201d was his refrain and this is good too.<\/p>\n

Another way to think of this is, \u201cEmbrace the cross.\u201d\u00a0 Your life will involve sufferings, challenges and difficulties.\u00a0 It must, whether you are a person of means or not.\u00a0 \u00a0There will be sickness, health, good and bad and hard jobs, unforseen events and situations, disasters and flops and failures.\u00a0 You will make and lose friends, your heart will be broken.\u00a0 Life includes pain.<\/h4>\n <\/p>\n And I think, the speakers were trying to emphasize to the audience, this reality of reality \u2013which isn\u2019t just uber eats and scrolling, and using online to communicate so as to avoid interacting.\u00a0 Emotionally, these kids need to know, they\u2019re going out into a world where they will have to talk to people they don\u2019t know, and do the tough things.\u00a0 Making it a habit, is a way of life.\u00a0 Doing the tough things brings satisfaction even if you aren\u2019t succeeding. I know, I\u2019m a writer. You write because you love writing, and you hope, somehow you are successful through it.<\/p>\n Writing means sharing things that happen, sharing your struggle with life.\u00a0 Recently, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve been allowing myself to bleed onto the page, and passion without blood lacks energy, lacks import, and likely is little noted nor remembered and rightly so.<\/p>\n When I started writing, I shared stories of my children, but they\u2019re teens and adults now, so their stories are not mine to tell.\u00a0 It means I must be daring enough to be emotionally vulnerable about myself.\u00a0 Children, even grown up ones, teach you about who you are by their memories, their values, and their understanding of what you do.\u00a0 They challenge, they reveal, they know all your flaws and failings.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve forgotten, they\u2019ll remind you.<\/p>\n Like my kids tell me they need to be somewhere fifteen minutes earlier than the actual time.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been late to things enough times to know, factor in Mom\u2019s organizational speed. \n<\/p>\n

There\u2019s time and then there\u2019s mom time.<\/h4>\n Likewise, they know, if you want Mom to remember, show up with my planner and a pen. Watch me write it down.\u00a0 My brain resides mostly found in a pen.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why.<\/p>\n Next, check in with me to make sure I have not lost the planner in the meantime or forgotten to look at it.\u00a0 Put it on the dry erase calendar too.\u00a0 Mention it at dinner, but never in the car.\u00a0 Mom does not process details in the car. She\u2019s driving.\u00a0 \u00a0She\u2019s probably just done with work and tired.\u00a0 She may even respond, but she will not remember.\u00a0 \u00a0 She will try because she chooses tough, but she will fail spectacularly.<\/p>\n See, I noted and remembered.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThe world will little note, nor long remember what we say here.\u201d \u2013President Abraham Lincoln from the Gettysburg Address. This is the attitude everyone should hold if asked to give a speech at the end of a commencement.\u00a0 \u00a0When someone says something that is memorable, skads of internet ink gets spilt taking the offending person […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4510,"featured_media":3039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-humor","category-family-life"],"yoast_head":"\nGraduation Speeches<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here." --President Abraham Lincoln from the Gettysburg Address. 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