I was one of the speakers at my high school graduation in 1965. Somewhere tucked away in a filing cabinet are the notes for that speech. I typed them on a standard Remington typewriter. It was not an electric typewriter. If you think I must be old, that should validate the accuracy of your perception.
At my high school, there was competition related to who spoke at graduation. Despite the fact that I was terrified at the thought of public speaking, I opted to try out. My speech was chosen by a panel of three English teachers to be included at commencement.
• I was not class valedictorian.
• Actually, when it came to high school, I wasn't selected by the student body as one of the top ten seniors to succeed. My twin brother was selected. We were pretty competitive at the time. I remember being happy for him and disappointed that I was not on the list.
• In my academic, social and recreational endeavors, I never played football in school.
• I never made the school basketball team. I did try-out in junior high. I couldn't dribble and walk at the same time.
• It would take some thought, but I could probably come up with a list of recognitions I didn't receive in high school. I did have some honor classes, lots of friends and I enjoyed the adventure immensely along the way.
• I guess I can say, tongue in cheek, that I got the last word. I was one of the speakers at our high school commencement.
I had the good fortune of growing up in an environment where you didn't have the pressure to be the best. It was okay to simply fit in and be average. You didn't have to be exceptional to have value.
Decades later, I ran across a commencement address by a faculty member at a high school to be remembered. David McCullough, Jr., English teacher at Wellesley High School (outside of Boston), stood before the graduation class of 2012 and told them:
"You're not special. You are not exceptional. Yes, you've been pampered, sheltered, doted upon, helmeted, and bubble-wrapped. Yes, capable adults with other thing to do have held you, kissed you, fed you, wiped your mouth, wiped your bottom, trained you, taught you, tutored you, coached you, listened to you, counseled you, encouraged you consoled you and encouraged you again…But don't get the idea that you are special because you are not.
He included a host of empirical data, to prove his point. I liked his conclusion: "If you've learned anything in your years here, I hope it is that education for, rather than material advantage, the exhilaration of learning. As you commence and scatter to the winds, I urge you to do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance.
Don't wait for inspiration or passion to find you. Get up, get out, explore, find it yourself and grab hold with both hands.
• Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view.
• Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.
• Go to Paris to be in Paris, not to cross it off you list and congratulate yourself on being worldly.
• Exercise freewill and creative, independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you, but for the good they will do others…And then you too will discover the great and curious truth of the human experience is that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself. The sweetest joys of life, then, come one with the recognition that you are not special, because everyone is."
By the way, I was invited to speak at my 50th high school reunion. I mentioned that I was not selected as one of the ten most likely to succeed. Of course, they were right, but how did they know?
All My Best!
Don
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