A lot of kids are graduating this weekend. I have always been fond of the animal known as the commencement address. There are good ones, not-so-good ones, mediocre ones and great ones.
Because so much these days is brought to us as spin. The media, politics and big business all having floats in the slime parade. When life, truth or reality hands you a clue (or diploma) you had best accept, and with as much humility and gratitude as you can muster, because if you don't, that same clue (or curriculum) will be offered to you again (and again), until you see that what you have been conditioned to accept as fact, is everything but. Two stand out for their overall quality and commitment to the reality of life:
Wear sunscreen. Mary Schmich.
You are not special. David McCullough.
Both these address' are radically motivating. They each talk about success found from within rather than from the outward image that society projects back upon us.
Here are some other good address; from:
Let's take a closer look, shall we? What society would like us to do as perpetuated and replayed ad naseum by those that have mastered the model:
Go to school, graduate, get a degree, go to work, get married, stay upwardly mobile, procreate, invest, retire, watch TV, have a nice funeral.
What we really need are people with the courage to break this mold. And someone to shoot that mold maker. Folks, there are almost 7 billion of us walking around these days. We don't need more of the same. We have plenty of bureaucrats, government workers, assistant managers and file clerks. There are enough white collar junior executives and more service industry gophers than we can inventory. The middle class has flunked out. They passed the 'be normal and don't make waves' test, but failed in everything else. Magna cum laude dull.
We need crazy. We need outlandish. We need off-the-wall-over-the-top-off-the-charts wackos with fire in the belly marching to the indi drummer that fills their souls with passion. We need the graduates of today to get busy with this because my generation has failed miserably. Here is the gift society gives you to work with today: Debt. Our mess is yours to clean up. We partied like it has been 1999 for twenty years. The place is a mess and we're broke.
So please wear sunscreen, find your unique attributes and embrace them, believe in yourself, laugh at yourself, work hard, take risks, stay hungry, stay foolish and love all you can. It's common cement.
Good luck.
Pics: A party for Mirthiness is a good start. The common cement (see Ellen video for reference). Add some love.
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