A time to dream big

Whether you’re wearing a cap and gown or just sitting proudly in the audience, graduation season offers a hearty dose of uplift. And for those of us invited to join the festivities as commencement speakers, as I recently was at Monroe High School, where my son graduated more than a decade ago, it’s also chance to reflect on some of the life lessons that have mattered most to us over the years. Here are a few of mine, excerpted from my remarks at Monroe.

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We’re fond at these commencement exercises of quoting Mark Twain. He once said, “Don’t let your schooling interfere with your education.” I know from personal experience with my own son that Monroe not only offered a great schooling, but one heck of a good education. An education in the real world; in the development of friends and relationships that have lasted him for these last 11 years, and will last a lot longer.

As you get further away from this day, you’ll realize that there are three, four, maybe five teachers that you had who made a difference in your life in one capacity or another. I still think of my high school teachers, the one who taught me how to write a composition, the one who taught me how to think logically in plane geometry. My track coach, Mr. Balzarett, who was also the track coach here at Monroe for many, many years, maybe had as much influence on my life as any single human being, to give me the sense that I could do whatever I wanted to do. Those kinds of relationships, and those kinds of mentors, are people who will have an influence on your life for years and decades to come.

Don’t let yourself, and don’t let anybody else, get in the way of you dreaming big dreams and working hard to achieve them. Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t be what you want to be. Each one of you, whether you want to be a police officer, a probation officer, a teacher, a scientist, a mathematician, whatever you want to be, don’t let people discourage you. This city needs young men and women like you, to reinvest your heart and soul in the city and in the county—to help kids, to help the homeless, to get them homes, to help clean up our communities, to help educate our children, to help make our communities safe. You can play a critical role in making this an even better city than the one that you are going to inherit in the years ahead.

Don’t let anybody hold you back. Make a difference in your life, and more importantly, make a difference in your neighbor’s life.

Posted 6/15/11