Our
View: A few last words of advice
Graduates,
faculty, family and friends, it is a pleasure
to be speaking
with you on this day of commencement. We
had prepared a long and verbose oration,
but decided it would be more appropriate,
and certainly much more enjoyable for you
the audience, if we would limit our comments
and reflections to a few terse and more
or less bullet pointed insights. So without
further ado, we here offer a few last recommendations
for members of the class of 2004.
First,
thank your parents for having supported
you emotionally and probably financially
through the past four or five years. For
all the hard work you performed in school,
they performed an equal amount in order
to pay for your education. There is an occasional
inclination to perceive this support as
an obligation of your parents. But it is
only an obligation because they love you,
so reconnect with them if you’ve neglected
them a bit during the past four or five
years.
Second,
thank your friends. It may sound sappy,
but it doesn’t have to be. By simply
observing that it “sucked” not
seeing them as often as you did prior to
your stint in higher education, you will
show that you value their friendship. And
once that’s over and done, you can
get drunk with a clear conscience.
Third,
thank your professors. They may just be
doing their job, but the good ones are doing
it because they genuinely like it and believe
they are having a positive affect on the
futures of young men and women. Letting
them know, specifically, how they impacted
you, would be a well-deserved act of gratitude
that is not only considerate, but also a
gesture that will renew the spirits of professor
who may at times question the products of
their lessons. Such thanks will transfer
over to the education of future generations.
Fourth,
congratulate yourself. If you’ve made
it this far, you did work that was not required
of you, and you sacrificed money and certain
experiences in order to gain in the long
run. That is an admirable feat.
Last,
don’t congratulate yourself too much.
As its name denotes, commencement is only
the beginning of something. While you may
have accomplished some impressive things,
if you don’t do anything with your
degree than your college education is effectively
wasted. There is an unspoken rule in journalism
that if you get a good story, you can be
proud of yourself for a few hours, but then
you better get back on top of things. Your
diploma is that good story.
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