I created my blog on August 9, 2005.
My sons' high school graduation speech:
As a lonely little kid, I made friends with movies. During the Depression, I shared my childhood curiosities with Scout and Jem in To Kill A Mockingbird. Jeffrey Beaumont showed me that everything is not what it seems in Blue Velvet's outwardly, peaceful little town. I first fell in... and out of love with Annie Hall. Somewhere in a deserted high rise, John McClaine showed me just what a thrill seeker I was. And tonight, I am graduating with The Breakfast Club.
The eighties brat-pack film, The Breakfast Club, that I watched so many times growing up, takes place on a Saturday. Five kids have all violated high school rules in one way or another, and they've qualified for a special version of detention: all day long, from 8 to 4, in the school library. One at a time they reluctantly arrive at the place of punishment, the rebel, the weirdo, the jock, the princess, and the brain. These kids have nothing in common, and they have an aggressive desire not to have anything in common, but after a series of heated conflicts and emotional confessions, the group of teenagers come to realize that... behind the exterior, they are more alike than they are different; with the same hangups, the same fears, and the same desires. Tonight, despite our varying labels that others might define us by, we are the same.
We are sitting here with the same doubts about the future. The same uncertainities. And although many us will surely travel far different paths, right now on this football field, we're all in the same place in our lives, in the same situation. Graduates: Now is our time to move on to new and different things. Even if it means leaving your home, friends, and family I urge you to chase the dreams you have. Take advantage of this time to grow into the person you aspire to be; let your soul carve it's own path, your spirit take adventures where they may, and your imagination fly. For, in the words of Mark Twain, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
But during your journey through life, never lose sight of who you are. Make sure the dreams you follow are you're own. Friends and family want what's best for us, but only we know what's in our hearts. The path to success does not always lead to wealth, power, or someone else's expectations, but to happiness, instead. Follow your heart and reach for your dreams, and you will find true success.
So on this brink of oncoming discovery and adulthood, it doesn't matter if you were the football star, the loner, the prom queen, the minority, or the nerd... sitting here tonight, we are only what we choose to make ourselves. In this moment, we are the same. Today's thoughtful graduating seniors, tommorow's men and women of change, integrity, and success.
