Found my Valediction...

Hah, funny digging through my folder titled "random" has procured some rather enjoyable reads. Among them today I found my Valediction. Should you want a blast from the past (okay, only 3 years, but still, that some time!) here's what I so nervously recited to my class June 6th(?) 2010. :)

Enjoy! Much love!

~~~~~
Coast Union Valediction of 2010

       Welcome family and friends. Let me start with this: thank you. The love, support, words of wisdom, and even the smacks on the back of the head, helped shape the young adults that stand before you. That is not to say that we didn’t work hard to get to where we are today. We did, we put in the hours of work. But without you, it would have been completely different. On behalf of the class of 2010, thank you.

To my fellow graduates.

       The time has come, we are about to embark on the adventure called life. That is not to say that what we have experienced thus far isn’t life, but from here on out it will be very different. There will be no adults to “bail us out,” no teachers to remind us when things are due; we will be completely responsible for our lives. So what does being the only person responsible for your actions represent? To some, freedom and power. To others, fear and uncertainty. No matter how we view it, change is something we must embrace, learn from, and move on with new tools that will enable us for a better life.

       So the question becomes this: What will you do with your life?

       Do not be misled, a life of indifference is just as bad as a life of crime. If we are not actively seeking what is right, what is just, then we are just as guilty as the man who threw the stone. Instead of leading an existence of indifference, live life out loud. Find your passion and follow it. The world will know you by your actions. What will you choose to lead your life? Here is my challenge for you:

Choose Love.

Choose a life of love, and your legacy will be great. That does not necessarily mean a life of luxury or wealth or fame. In fact, love will most likely entail a humble life. But the footprints you leave behind will provide more for future generations than any monetary endowment ever could. Choosing such a life though, is not easy. Love is not some mushy emotion. Love is a choice. It is an action. You must decide to love. You may fall in love, but you must choose to stay there. Loving will be the hardest part of life, and yet the most rewarding. To love is to want the best for ones you like least.

What do you want to be your legacy? Who will you be defined as?

Though I am not Morgan Freeman, who narrates everything best, I will leave with these words from the poem “Invictus”:

“In the feel clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am  the captain of my soul.”

Thank you.

~~~~~