Graduation Speech

By popular demand (This is not as I actually gave it; I cut and added several things at the last minute):
Fellow students, as we stand here on the cusp of the completion of our journey here at Red Mountain High School, we look back on the years on which the sun is setting. We see the trials and joys, the devastations and excitements. We look forward to the glorious dawn which will rise on our new lives. We are the future. And we remember that this is not an ending, but a beginning. This is the first day of the rest of our lives. We must remember to hold on to our dreams, to stay strong in our hopes of a bright future. Class of 2008, we made it!

Now that I’ve gotten through the mandatory clichés, we can get on with what I actually want to say. Oscar Wilde once noted that “In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.” This is truly a sad day. Many of us are at this very moment getting what we want. It seems great—we’re finally free of the shackles of high school education. But after the buzz wears off, in a week or so, we get the question “now what?” It sinks in that it’s over, and we need to find something else to do with our lives.

Humanity is progression; without a goal, something to work toward, it seems pointless and absurd. Sure, relaxing and having fun is enjoyable for a little while. But eventually you fall into a malaise with no goal, no purpose, nothing to do. You realize that not only is the journey half the fun, it’s all the fun. Unfortunately, many of us simply ignore this epiphany and go back to watching American Idol.
I myself realized this just recently. I was on the Red Mountain Academic Decathlon team, and I had a goal. I was going to break the state record. Dedicating much of my life to the necessary study and practice, I did. After the awards ceremony, I was able to bask in the glory for maybe 30 minutes. Then I realized that I had nothing to do anymore. I realized that I needed a new goal. I understood that a life must have purpose; like a piece of music, it must be performed with an end in mind.

So do something. Fill the void left in your life after high school. Have a goal, a purpose, a reason to live. This doesn’t have to be something huge, nor does it have to be permanent. Don’t feel like you have to know exactly what you’re doing with your life right now. Feel free to search for what you really want to do, looking for a purpose. Indeed, searching for a purpose could morph into a purpose itself. But a life without any purpose is, quite honestly, no life at all.

The reason we celebrate graduation is that every one of us has reached the completion of a goal, and with the completion of that goal, we pass a milestone. It’s up to us to choose to keep moving.

Finally, I’d like to thank a few people, starting with all the teachers I never met, who taught all the people I never knew, for obvious reasons. I’d like to thank the people who offered to write my speech for me. You know who you are, Andrew and Will. I’d also like to thank the one who actually did write my speech for me. Oh, and all the standard people—parents, friends, teachers who I actually had, etc. Thank you too. Lastly, I’m sorry, Taylor Kerby, about the fauxhawk.

Lastly, I’d like to thank you all for sitting through my speech.