Happy Easter, everybody,
This story should be pretty topical for many of us. It’s almost graduation time and these words from dad are, I think, timeless. There’s good advice for everyone in here. I hope you enjoy these words and take into your heart the awesome advice given near the end of the article. They are the words dad lived by and they are words that we all should take to heart.
Enjoy,
David Tschirhart
Advice To High School Grads
By: Don Tschirhart
From “It’s a Wonderful World: A Retired Reporter Looks At Life”
No one invited me to make a high school or college commencement address this year. Or any other year. I don’t know why.
Maybe it’s because administrators and graduates don’t know me . . . yet! Maybe it’s because I wasn’t a very smart student. They’re right. I didn’t graduate with honors from any of my schools.
When you have six sons and 17 grandchildren you can expect to attend a lot of high school graduations over the years. This year Margie and I attended two. Unfortunately, we missed one in Virginia.
As always I shed a tear or two at each of the ceremonies. But aside from the thrill of seeing my grandkids in their caps and gowns receiving their diplomas, commencements are usually pretty dull.
It’s a case of “see one, see them all.” And I’ve seen 15. Talks by superintendents and principals were all the same: “Teachers are wonderful. We’re filled with pride in our senior class. The future is yours. Farewell. Good luck.”
It’s unfortunate that most of what they said, what they advised, will be remembered for no more than 10 seconds. Does anyone remember what school administrators and class officers say at commencement?
I suggest commencement speakers write their talks or burn them on a computer CD. Copies should be placed with diplomas to be read in a dozen years when the words will have more meaning to students who are too busy on graduation day to listen or understand.
“Thank you” was the basic theme of all the valedictorians and other class officers who spoke too fast and without emotion. There is a need for advisors to teach students they are speaking to others, not themselves.
Student leaders thanked their teachers, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, friends, second and third cousins. Thank you’s went on and on. If they missed a relative or friend, they incorporated that thank you in the catch-all phrase, “and others who helped me.”
Personal thank you’s should be stopped. Speakers are supposed to represent students in their talks, not just themselves.
I was happy to see one class officer boldly sneaked into her talk, “Thank you, God.”
If I were a high school principal, I would conduct a contest for all seniors, top students or not, seeking the best graduation speech. The winner would speak at the event.
For some time I wonder what I, a retired journalist and college grad, would impart to high school and college graduates who now are faced with making major decisions on their own.
Staring at my computer one night I tried to write to my granddaughters. Maybe I would use the same advice at a graduation ceremony:
Dear Sarah, Nikki and Shannon,
As you complete your last high school classes I hope my beloved granddaughters will remember the most important thing you have learned is that there is so much more to learn in books and experience.
I hope my beloved granddaughters: Will think 360-degrees and will NOT wear idea blinders (blinders are used on racehorses so they will only see straight ahead and not to the side); Have learned there are always two sides to a story; Will be positive thinkers using negative thoughts only to see what not to do; Will study their prospective betrothed more than their most difficult school subject; Will marry someone who agrees that no one wins a marital argument — once a word is spoken it cannot be taken back and will be remembered; Will continue their belief in Almighty God and remember the following Louis L’Amour’ quote:
“It seems to me a man comes into this world with little ready raw material — himself. His folks can only give him a sort of push, and a mitre of teaching, but in the long run what a man becomes is his own problem.
“There’ve always been hard times, there’ve always been wars and troubles — famine, disease, and such-like — and some folks are born with money, some with none. In the end it is up to the man what he becomes, and none of those other things matter. In horses, dogs and men it is character that counts.”
Your lovin’ gramps
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The platform is and various degrees of help and tools depending on what you want and how much you want to spend and what you require.
Thank you, CDC.