After Graduation, Life Continues Anew

Be proud, high school graduates, you have made it through 13 years of New Jersey’s educational system. Each of you represents a sizable investment not only by your parents or guardians, but by the community at large. They have paid school taxes that funded your public education. Those who have gone through parochial schools or have been home schooled have no less of an investment spent on their behalf, it just did not come from taxpayers.
Let not the pride you feel delude you to think that you can remain on this temporary plateau of bliss too long. There is much work to be done until you can rest comfortably on your laurels.
Some of you cannot wait to head off to college where, you have been told, the key to success awaits. Do not let the partying overcome your good senses, that, too, is a page in the book of life leading to adulthood.
A sheepskin hung on one’s wall is certainly reassuring that examinations have been passed and a certain level of knowledge achieved, but life will teach you more than any professor could hope.
While you have been led to believe that failure is a terrible thing, do not be swayed by that notion. If your intention is good and right, failure can be but a solid step toward attaining your final goal, whatever that may be. Be sure not to take failure as a measure of your worth, look at it as a chance for a new start.
The sun rises anew each day. One of my late aunt’s needlepoint works hangs in our bedroom, “Today Is The First Day of the Rest of Your Life.” Don’t be afraid to let go of yesterday. We all make mistakes, just don’t dwell on them. If you have wronged someone, make it right with them, forgive yourself, and press on.
Get for yourself a religion that is right for you, that conforms to your beliefs and cling to it. Through the challenges that you are sure to face, the sadness and the joy that life has in store, that religion will hold you steady, give you direction that is unchanging, and gives you a reason to be hopeful, forgiving, believing loving.
Think well of yourself, but not too highly. You must first respect yourself, then you will certainly respect others. Learn to “read” what your body is telling you. When dogs are tired they rest. When your body is weary, heed its warning. Too many people wind up with ulcers and heart attacks because they never truly learned to listen to their body. It is certainly a wonderful machine that will go for many years, if it is respected.
Find a true vocation and stick with it. Such things are a true gift, much more important than just a job. It took me a long time to get through by thick skull exactly what that “vocation” meant, but in simple terms, it means that with which the Almighty has gifted you.
Perhaps it is really a love of gardening, a knack few truly have. Maybe you are gifted to design buildings, or to intervene in the lives of others who might need hope. That is the vocation, and often vocations and jobs don’t equate. A good accountant may be wealthy, skilled with figures, but have a true vocation as a chef. I hope you can understand.
Through your life, there will be many people whose lives you will touch. Some may become dear friends, others may simply use you for what they can get from you. Be keenly aware of the difference, and don’t be hurt when the latter, whom you might have thought were friends are not.
If no one has told you before, keep true to your word. Too many legal problems arise simply because what people say is not true. If you make a promise, keep it.
Never lose your wonder of the natural world. If you think that life is wrapped up in your cell phone or some electronic gadget, take time to really look at a flower, see how it’s designed. Imagine all that nature put into that blossom for a day or two. Then think of yourself, and how much more important than a flower you are to the one who created you.
Do not be too busy to look at a glorious sunrise or stunning sunset. It could well be your last, since we are given no promise of tomorrow. Look into the night sky and realize the moon and stars you see have been there before your birth and will remain when you are gone. Think that the great minds of the world looked at those same celestial sites and were as amazed as you must be.
Make a promise to yourself to never stop learning. Read books. Attend seminars. Listen to sermons. Go to a concert, yes, perhaps the Philadelphia Orchestra or Bay Atlantic Symphony, and for the first time in your life hear amazing notes that composers poured into their musical scores. Never say you don’t like classical music until it has been experienced. You might be surprised and find yourself liking some certain pieces.
Exercise you freedoms. Do not be ashamed to stand up for them, perhaps you might be called to fight to defend them, that, too, is a noble calling.
Vote. If you do not then you let someone else determine your future. We have all voted for candidates who lost, but still that is our American right, a right for which countless men and woman died. Do not degrade their lives by not casting a vote, it takes but a few minutes and is so important.
Don’t be too serious. Laugh a lot. Look at the bright side of life, it’s far better than the dark side.
Finally, look into the mirror each day, smile and promise to give you all to do your best. That’s all anyone can do. Having done that, sleep well at night.