HIT-> graduation talks

[Doug Johnson <palsdaj@VAX1.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU>]

The 1994 Mankato Alternative High School Graduation Address

When Mr. Stoufer, asked me to be speak to you proud and deserving graduates
on this special evening, I was honored, delighted, and surprised. But
mostly surprised. And I'll tell you why.

I have to ask you graduates here this evening a question:  How many of you
have a mother, a father, an aunt or uncle, or friend who is right now close
to being in a state of shock just because you are actually graduating?

So I guessed. I remember almost 25 years ago, how surprised my mother was
when she realized I had actually passed my classes, made up my detentions,
paid my bills, practiced the funny graduation walk, and had earned my "get
out of school free card." In fact she was so doubtful of my achievement, I
don't think she got a substitute to take her place on the bowling team
until she actually saw the mortar board and tassle.

And even then I think she wondered if I wasn't just "up to something."

When I asked  Mom about my graduation, she said, "Oh, Doug, I just didn't
know about you back then. You had such a smart mouth, and were always
picking fights! You had quite an attitude!"

Well, thanks Mom! Here I am, asked to give a talk about graduating from
high school and about the future, and the principal and the teachers expect
me to be wise and helpful and inspiring, and you tell me what a goof I was
in high school. The longer I thought about what Mom said, the more
discouraged about writing this talk I got. Hmpf.

Then suddenly it occurred to me that some of the same qualities my mother
saw as negative are the same ones that help successful, creative and happy
people everyday. Let's take a look:

You had a Smart Mouth!

Gee, wasn't Mom really saying that I was a knowledgeable person with good
communication skills? Well, maybe not. You know what? I hope I can stay a
"smart mouth."

But staying smart and knowledgeable is tougher now than almost anytime in
human history. We in what is referred to as the "Information Explosion."
The amount of information in the world some say is doubling every 4 to 7
years.

90% of what science knows about the human brain has been discovered in the
past ten years.
Only 18 months after graduation, half the information a computer science
student has learned in college is outdated.
Your children and probably many of you will hold jobs that don't even exist
today, and will change careers - not jobs, but careers -  an average of
four times.

Did any of you think you were done learning because you've graduated from
high school? Everyone, from firemen to physicians, from homemakers to
horsebreeders, from mechanics to merchandisers, will need to keep acquiring
skills throughout their careers. The best that your schooling has given you
so far are the tools for learning: reading, writing, speaking, listening,
computing, analysing, debating, and creating.

Lucky for us, as Tom Robbins writes,
        If little else, the brain is an educational toy. While it may be a
frustrating plaything - one whose finer points recede just when you think
you are mastering them - it is nonetheless perpetually fascinating,
frequently surprising, occasionally rewarding, and it comes already
assembled; you don't have to put it together Christmas morning.

The second half being a smart mouth is the ability to take what you know
and be able to communicate it to others. Jan Hosey from Auburn University
asks people to think about where power comes from. Does it really come from
guns or knives or fists or money? Or does true power come from the ability
to communicate?

Where did Martin Luther King or Betty Friedan get their power?  Winston
Churchill or Abraham Lincoln? Golda Meier or Nelson Mandela?

How can you expect someone to address your grievance if you cannot clearly
express the problem?

As Charles F. Kettering puts it, "A problem well stated is a problem half
solved."

Perhaps we need those "smart mouths."


You were always picking fights

Too many of us, Mom included, always regard fights and conflict as negative.

I don't think fighting is wrong, but what we have to learn is how to pick
our fights, how to choose our causes.

Frank Koch, tells about a time when he served a battleship captain who
picked the wrong fight:

        Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea
on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. I was serving on the lead
battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was
poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye
on all activities.
        Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported,
"Light, bearing on the starboard bow."
        "Is it steady or moving astern?" the captain called out.
        Lookout replied, "Steady, captain," which meant we were on a
dangerous collision course with that ship.
        The captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: We are
on a collision course, advise you to change course 20 degrees."
        Back came a signal, "Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees."
        The capatain said, "Send, I'm a captain, change course 20 degrees."
        "I'm a seaman second class," came the reply. 'You had better change
course by 20 degrees."
        By that time the captain was furious. He spat out, "Send, I'm a
battleship. Change course 20 degrees."
        Back came the flashing light, "I'm a lighthouse."
        We changed course.

So how do we determine what fights are worth picking? Only ones which can
be won? No, I don't think so. Fights for justice and equality and human
rights will continue to be fought throughout our lives.

I believe when picking our fights we should ask ourselves: Will the outcome
of this conflict be of consequence to me in five years? I would not waste
my time arguing about the particulars of a dress code or the location of a
smoking area. But I would work and fight hard to get to be one of the
people who have a say in making those choices.

Don't fight decisions once they are made: fight to be a decision maker!

We should also ask ourselves: How the outcome of my fight make a difference
in the lives of my children or grandchildren? That's called taking the long
view.

All you graduates have already shown that ability. At some point you chose
to study for a test rather than go to the movies. You chose to stay in
school rather than take a job. Actions which at the moment may not have
felt the best, but were right in "the grand scheme of things."

And while it always a good idea to look at the big picture, we should also
remember that the only way we really make a difference is by what we do for
other individuals. Unfortunately, too many people have the same attitude as
the Peanut's cartoon character Lucy who bluntly states, "I love humanity.
It's people I can't stand."

Joel Barker tells the story of an older man who, when walking along the
ocean one morning after a big storm, sees the what he takes to be a figure
dancing on the beach in the distance. As he gets closer, he realizes it is
a young man who is repeatedly reaching down, twirling, casting his arms
out, and then repeating the strange movements. As he get closer still, he
sees that the young man is tossing  back into the sea some of the hundreds
of thousands of dying starfish which had been washed ashore up and down the
beach during the storm. The older man questions the actions of the younger
man by asking, "Why are you undertaking this task? So many starfish have
been washed up, you could be here for days, even weeks, and still your
actions barely would make a difference." The younger man looks at the older
man, and slowly, beautifully, reaches down and tosses another starfish far
into the ocean, and replies, "I made a difference to that one."

We may not be able to change the world, but we can change another's world.
And we can do it daily with a smile, a compliment, a helping hand.

As Bob Hall, who wrote to me on the Internet from the Ohio Educational
Computer Network said:
Remember that some days at some times, YOU become the most important person
in someone's life. If I'm stranded on the side of the road or my toilet is
overflowing, President Clinton is not so important to me anymore. It's the
mechanic or the plumber who is the most important person in my life. And if
they are good, regardless of what they do the world will beat a path to
their doors. In a world where mediocrity is the norm, people will beat a
path to your door for a good tune-up. Be prepared to be the most important
person in someones life.

Pick good fights which will make a difference to individuals.

Such an attitude
my mother said. I hope you all not only have an attitude, but keep one,
especially if the attitude that you have helps you react to life purposely.
One term for this attitude is proactivity. Charles Swindoll make this
observation about attitude:

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the
past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than
successes, than what other people say or do. It is more important than
appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company...a
church...a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day
regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our
past...we cannot change the fact people will act in a certain way. We
cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one
string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10%
what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...we
are in charge of our Attitudes.

Fate might make us poor, but we do not have to be miserly. We may not feel
loved, but we can still chose to be loving. The happiest people in this
world are those who have decided that they have both a choice in and
responsiblity for how they have chosen to live their lives.

Or to put it in actual context, think about these frogs:

The Optimistic Frog

Two frogs fell into a deep cream bowl,
The first one was an optimistic soul.

The second one took a gloomy view,
"We shall drown," he cried, "We're through!"

So, with a last despairing cry,
He flung up his legs and said, "goodbye!"

Quote the other, with a determined grin,
"I can't get out, but I won't give in!"

"I'll just swim around 'til my strength's spent,
and then I'll die, the more content."

So, bravely he swam, until it would seem,
His struggles began to churn the cream.

On top of the butter, at last he stopped,
... and out of the bowl he gaily hopped.

What's the moral? Tis easily found,
"If you can't hop out, keep swimming around!"

Such is the power of attitude!


So graduates, if you have them, take with you tonight your smart mouths,
your need to pick fights, and your attitudes. Use them to make your world
and the world of those you love a better place.

I congratulate you, the 1994 Class of Mankato Alternative High School, on
reaching this first milestone of lives which I predict will be both rich
and will enrich the lives of others.


Doug Johnson, District Media Supervisor | A great deal of intelligence
Mankato Public Schools, ISD77           | can be invested in ignorance
Box 8713, Mankato MN 56001-8713         | when the need for illusion
507-387-7698                            | is deep. Saul Bellow
palsdaj@vax1.mankato.msus.edu