Carl Johnson's Unfinished Graduation Speech

I've heard graduation compared to a funeral before. Everyone dresses up in black and comes to see the senior class put to rest. Soon, friends will go to different colleges and lose track of each other over time. Everyone will drift apart, but always retain memories of good times gone by, times which have departed. High School is an experience never to be repeated, which has come to a distinct end. In fact, at many schools, including this one, students write "Senior Wills", in which they bequeath the memories of their years. The senior class passes away and the juniors take their place. The great cycle of death and rebirth continues.

I've also heard graduation compared to a birth. And the Senior class after gestating in the protective womb of school for these first eighteen years of living are now ready to go out into the world on their own. The newly formed person emerges to the world at the end of the ceremony, ready to accept its challenges. At this and most other schools, graduation is also called "Commencement." The students have worked long and hard during their high school years, and now that the beginning of the education process is complete, the graduating class can "commence" with their lives. They start new lives independent, yet grounded. Still, the process of learning never ceases, each student continues to grow and build on a foundation laid strong over many years by loving parents and teachers. This is the birth of someone new to the world made by the hands of loving parents and educators.

"Grew up in a box / Never stopped to look outside / Was frightened by the world around me / Oh Mario! Hide me from the goombas! / But walk away I did / To a land of color and light / Like a hobo wandering down the tracks / Bag on my shoulder, time on my side / Now I reach the end of the journey / With sadness, I meet the end / Yet as the journey was an end to the old / So must the journey end itself / New quests loom on the horizon / Even as the old one is left behind."

I wrote this poem many months ago in anticipation of this day. The day many have looked forward to for years. The day many have dreaded. The day in which our parents are gathered with pride to see their children recognized for their hard work. This day is one that has been on the tip of everyone's tongues for months and years. Bittersweet feelings crowd the hearts of all, sorrow for the ending of an era and hope for the future.

The times shared here are indescribable to outsiders. A bond was made, intangible but real. We aren't dying today. We aren't being born. We are just continuing to walk down a road that we started down a long time ago. Two years ago, I could never have imagined what changes would happen to me. Yet, I am the person I have ever been. I am not so radically different. Yet, I am. The changes are bound by Homeostasis and Transistasis. We seek to change and yet to remain true to our beliefs and ourselves. We have become bolder, more confident, and (I hope) more mature. We have learned things inside and outside of the classroom that we will carry with us our whole lives.

The day we arrived as juniors was perhaps the most frightening day in our lives. "Who are these people?" we wondered. "What have I gotten myself into?" In the next months change came fast and furious. New people, new ideas, new classes, new teachers, all need to be analyzed and absorbed.

Hype usually ruins a movie or book or even kissing a girl. Expectation ruins true experience. It makes a false experience. One that is greater or less than the true experience, but false never the less.