TO THE GRADUATES

                                                

I have written often about the troubles that beset our nation and how we, the oldest generation were not good stewards of this country. How greed and power caused us to ignore the ramifications of our style of living and we have left those of you who are just starting your adult journey, holding a lot of baggage. Life will throw you enough curve balls on its own and having to deal with someone else’s mess only adds more pain to the misery. But if there is one thing life has taught me along the way, it’s not to give up and sometimes, what is done is done and you need to get by it. Far better to be a survivor then a quitter.

The bad decisions that have placed this nation in peril are only part of the problem. The other part of it is the world gets more complicated by the day. More pressure on people to be connected by electronic technology. More demands on your time and talents, all in a never-ending rat race to rise to the top of the ladder. Mediocrity seems to not be fashionable anymore; you need to be a doctor or a professor and not a carpenter or a farmer. There is no glory in that and in the meantime the roles of mothers and fathers have been diminished. Right now the birth rate in this country isn’t keeping up with the deaths. And if you do the math we will end up with a whole lot of silver heads and no one to care for them.

But back to being survivors. For every problem there is a solution and yes some of them are more elusive then others. Its not the degree of difficulty that gets in the way as often as the willingness to confront the problem and do something about it and not tomorrow-- but right now. You as graduates have some hard decisions to make but recognize that most of the wrong decisions have largely been made all ready. Look around you and it’s easy to see what works and what doesn’t. If you have the fortitude, the tenacity not to repeat the past, you can and will change this. You have a mess to clean up yes-- but that’s what life is all about-- cleaning up messes and most often not your own.

I am going to give you some advice that will make your job easier and in the long run will spurn cooperation with your peers and that is an essential part. Number one respect and love your fellow man and this earth. I’m not going to get all Christian on you but this country was founded on Christian principals. That was one of the hard-core rules of our founders and believe me it works. The old golden rule. Number two turn your back on greed and power and listen to your own inner voice. You are the people that will save this country through a cooperative effort and not through the bobble heads in Washington who are manipulated by money and power. Hopefully in the course of a few elections you could change that too. Resolve to leave this earth a far better place then you found it, so some day when you are old and outside looking in like I am, you can truthfully say to the graduates of your day. “We brought this nation back from the path of destruction and if you pay attention to what has happened, you can see, we have left you a whole lot of good examples and all you really have to do now, is maintain the status quo.”