Graduating

Last updated on: June 23, 2011 at 10:18 am by Kathy Tuan-MacLean

Graduating 2011-06-23T10:18:00-04:00 Kathy Tuan-MacLean

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Last night, the whole family watched Ren-Ren “move on” from elementary school.

This is the last time we’ll do the Muraco “moving on” ceremony–our whole family is finally “moving on” from elementary school. Hence, we knew the best part would be the video full of baby pictures, kindergarten pictures, current pictures, and all the years in between.

Here’s Ren at 5 months:

Here’s Ren at 18 months:

And here’s Ren at his first day of kindergarten:

And in his kindergarten portrait:

The principal gave a nice speech, but it didn’t compare to Stephen Colbert’s Northwestern Commencement speech, which a friend sent the link for after reading about my celebrity crush on him. If you have time, listen to it–it’s hilarious but also thought provoking.

SPOILER ALERT–WRITING ABOUT HIS SPEECH NOW, SO LISTEN TO IT FIRST IF YOU DON’T WANT TO RUIN THE EXPERIENCE!

After cracking a lot of jokes, Stephen got serious and profound. He noted that we’re told to follow our dreams. . . but what if it’s a stupid dream? He assured the graduates that if they don’t achieve their dreams, they’re not losers and they haven’t failed.

But just as importantly, if they do achieve their dreams, they’re not winners.

This is what he learned doing improv:

You are not the most important person in the scene–everybody else is. And if everybody else is more important than you are, you will naturally pay attention to them and serve them. But the good news is you’re in the scene too! So hopefully to them you’re the most important person and they will serve you. No one is leading. You’re all following the follower. Serving the servant. You cannot win at improv.

Like improv, you can’t “win” your life. . .

In my experience, you will truly serve only what you love, because service is love made visible. If you love friends, you will serve your friends. If you love community, you will serve your community. If you love money, you will serve your money. And if you love only yourself, you will serve only yourself, and you will have only yourself.

So no winning! Instead, try to love others and serve others, and hopefully find others who will love and serve you in return.

Wow. Sounds a lot like what Jesus taught, doesn’t it?

In a culture that can make even 5th grade boys feel like they’re already losing because they don’t hit the marks they should, it’s good to remember what Stephen said, “If we all stuck with our first dream, the world would be overrun by cowboys and princesses.”

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