Commencement address

This is graduation season. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I went to my sister in law Tita's graduation a couple of days ago. Every time I go to a college graduation, it makes me feel a little bit young again. (Please, stop with the old jokes.) Seriously, something about a college campus puts me back in my days of youth. As we were standing there Friday waiting for the bus to take us back to our cars after the ceremony, on a busy street, in the middle of cars and trucks, came a graduate, still in his cap and gown and with degree in hand, on a skateboard going against the traffic. I heard someone say, "what a waste of a college education." LOL

This is the perfect time to tell you about a project I've decided to begin. I've sat through numerous graduation and have heard numerous commencement speeches. And I have to admit, I haven't been impressed with many. In fact, I've been so unimpressed, that I can't remember a single line from any commencement address I've ever heard personally. So to that end, I am going to write a commencement address. I don't know if I'll ever get to give it...you need to be invited as a commencement speaker to be able to give it. But I'm going to write it anyway. If nothing else, I can auction it on eBay and make some money some day when I'm in a pinch. I figured I can't do worse than most speakers. And its a self reflective way to take inventory of your life and lay out what you think young people should take with them on their journey in life. In fact, I think I'm going to give it to my kids at the end of the school year. Yes, that's it. I'll give it to every class that ever leaves my room. Granted, these are ninth graders and they'll forget most of it before I finish giving it, but there will be that one student...ah yes, that one student that will come back to you in fifteen years and say, "Mr. Sasa, sitting in my cell all those years..." wait, that didn't sound right. Let's try it again. "Mr. Sasa, after being elected Governor of Texas, I have decided to invite the person that did the most to mold my young mind to my inauguration, you, my ninth grade World Geography teacher." It could happen. It could. Really. A guy can hope at least.

I started researching for my speech and came across a myriad of quotations. One caught my eye immediately. It caught my eye because it was by Robert Louis Stevenson, the famous writer who spent his final days in Samoa. He said, "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant." That's deep. And a great overall theme for my speech. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. Endurance is the key. Think of what you do everyday in life as planting seeds. That's what I do as a teacher. As a parent. The daily lessons you impart and take in from those around you. You may never see the seed bloom, but be comforted in the knowledge that someday, someone will benefit from the seed you planted. Someone will sit under the tree whom you helped to water, cultivate, and nurture. Those trees could be our children, our students, co-workers, etc.

Is this speech off to a good start or what? Hey, if you've got an idea for the speech, let me know. Post a comment below. This can be a collaborative effort. The more minds that work on this the better. We've got about two weeks to finish it before the end of school.