So here I sit, a day old college grad still with no real job and no real money. That’s alright though, because I still haven’t taken my last step as an academic student. I have not yet given a commencement speech. And since the foolish higher ups at a University that shall remain nameless did not choose me to deliver a commencement address at any of the numerous ceremonies of the past weekend, I have no choice but to subject the few of you who actually read this blog to my speech, here.
Good afternoon, morning, evening, whatever it may be for you. I sit here typing away, unsure of exactly how to begin. There are many different ways to look at a day like today, our graduation day. Today is an ending. Today is the end of academics and formal education for many of us. Some of us will go on to grad school. But for those of us who are sane or simply exhausted, we will take our undergrad degrees and next fall for the first time in sixteen years we will not go back to school shopping, but we will continue our hard fought job searches, pay rent to our parents, and wait in fear for the first payment on our college loans.
In this regard, today is also about firsts, a beginning, the beginning of the rest of our lives. Today is the beginning of opportunity, the beginning of our potential finally being realized and turned into positive business, industry, and change in our world. Today is the beginning of a whole new understanding to word responsibility. Today is the beginning of a race that has taken most of us just over twenty years to get to the starting line. Today is the beginning indeed.
I walked away from one of the many ceremonies I attended yesterday and as I handed my humorously large diploma over to my girlfriend she said cheerfully, “you’re a big kid now!” I chuckled, because she’s just so darn cute, and then I thought to myself, I hope that statement will always ring true about me.
Graduation from college may be the end of schooling and the beginning of real world opportunity, but I hope for me, and for all of us, that it is also a continuation of the childlike curiosity, dreamer mentality, and faith that we have shared with the world since the time we were young.
There is nothing like the mind of a child. To a young child, anything is possible and the sky isn’t the limit, it’s the beginning. This is why Jesus places so much importance on us sharing a child like faith. Could you imagine what our world would be like if our educated innovators and work force shared the same curiosity and faith that they did when they were children? We would be UNSTOPABBLE. Potential would not only realize itself, but it would exceed itself. Dreams would be sought after rather than hidden under a desk. Lives would be rich and full of whimsy, rather than dull and nine to five. Our world is great need of more big kids who harbor big dreams.
So today, weather you are graduating, celebrating a graduate, or for some crazy reason you found yourself on some weird kid’s blog, I encourage you to appreciate the beginnings of today and the ends of today. You’ve worked hard to get where you are in life, and the opportunities ahead are immeasurable. But I also hope that you will pray for a continuation, or a reclaiming, of the child-like spirit that once ran wild inside of you. When we begin to live from that place, simply as a big kid, we say to the stars, “that’s my starting point”, and we go from there.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE GRADUATES OF ALL KIND: CLASS OF 2013!
-jon
Good afternoon, morning, evening, whatever it may be for you. I sit here typing away, unsure of exactly how to begin. There are many different ways to look at a day like today, our graduation day. Today is an ending. Today is the end of academics and formal education for many of us. Some of us will go on to grad school. But for those of us who are sane or simply exhausted, we will take our undergrad degrees and next fall for the first time in sixteen years we will not go back to school shopping, but we will continue our hard fought job searches, pay rent to our parents, and wait in fear for the first payment on our college loans.
In this regard, today is also about firsts, a beginning, the beginning of the rest of our lives. Today is the beginning of opportunity, the beginning of our potential finally being realized and turned into positive business, industry, and change in our world. Today is the beginning of a whole new understanding to word responsibility. Today is the beginning of a race that has taken most of us just over twenty years to get to the starting line. Today is the beginning indeed.
I walked away from one of the many ceremonies I attended yesterday and as I handed my humorously large diploma over to my girlfriend she said cheerfully, “you’re a big kid now!” I chuckled, because she’s just so darn cute, and then I thought to myself, I hope that statement will always ring true about me.
Graduation from college may be the end of schooling and the beginning of real world opportunity, but I hope for me, and for all of us, that it is also a continuation of the childlike curiosity, dreamer mentality, and faith that we have shared with the world since the time we were young.
There is nothing like the mind of a child. To a young child, anything is possible and the sky isn’t the limit, it’s the beginning. This is why Jesus places so much importance on us sharing a child like faith. Could you imagine what our world would be like if our educated innovators and work force shared the same curiosity and faith that they did when they were children? We would be UNSTOPABBLE. Potential would not only realize itself, but it would exceed itself. Dreams would be sought after rather than hidden under a desk. Lives would be rich and full of whimsy, rather than dull and nine to five. Our world is great need of more big kids who harbor big dreams.
So today, weather you are graduating, celebrating a graduate, or for some crazy reason you found yourself on some weird kid’s blog, I encourage you to appreciate the beginnings of today and the ends of today. You’ve worked hard to get where you are in life, and the opportunities ahead are immeasurable. But I also hope that you will pray for a continuation, or a reclaiming, of the child-like spirit that once ran wild inside of you. When we begin to live from that place, simply as a big kid, we say to the stars, “that’s my starting point”, and we go from there.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE GRADUATES OF ALL KIND: CLASS OF 2013!
-jon
