c. June 2002 · The speech I would have given.
This was written because I was very disappointed by the speeches given at Winterset High School for the class of 2002. I decided to write what I would say at a High School Graduation were I to give a speech.
Yes, we are now finished with High School. We have graduated. Let’s not lose focus on what it means to graduate, folks. To graduate is to meet the standards set for a certain level and to enter a new one with different conditions. We have completed this stage of our education, and although the walls that surround us will change, we’ll still be in a very similar place. Graduation is something to be proud of, for sure, but a goldfish is no whale, and high school is just one chapter of the novels of our lives.
Up to this point we’ve been building the foundation of our values, today we pour the cement. Every day hereafter that cement hardens more and more; our experiences will reinforce and build upon the groundwork we’ve spent constructing for the past 17 years or so.
It’s now more important than ever to look the world in the eye and work toward achieving our goals. We are much more independent now than we have ever been before and are no longer expected to rely on the support of our families and friends. We must advance with stalwart grace. Leaving grade school is going to be an eye-opener; and those who aren’t paying attention are going to stumble along the way. We are but the sum of our experiences, so experience to extremes! Thank you.
Composed 2002 · part of the Essays collection · authorship documented on the Provenance page.