Let's Go (A Graduation Farewell)

So… The time has come to say farewell.

No. Not yet.

I have come to say hello.

So. Hi, high school. Hi staff, students, and parents who love it.

Hi, world, who has come to share in the moment

concreting and consecrating the concentrated effort of the collective student-collection called:

body,

That we embody with delight and respect as the prospect of leaving this unity as tight as covalent bonds binding our hearts together oh so beautifully.

Hello.

No.

Not yet.

For if I greet you, World, that must mean that the four-year conversation that we have all received NO points for participation equating to relation has just come to its final,

Being an accumulative test, testing our endurance while tempering our temperance so as to prepare us for the journey that has taken 12 years to start.

This end will be like the hearing of a tune to a favorite track that reminds us that we have already run so far, and this is just another step in the race that we call Life.

Yes, if I am to be honest, and honest do I always want to be,

it feels as short as the Snap of our fingers,

but tell me, in that moment, how do you want it to be told?

If your entire story exists within the sound of a snap, what would be our snap story?

Would it be grand, or faint,

like the sound of rustling of leaves,

leaving beauty, yes, but only a murmur of a memory.

So how ‘bout we look, instead, to the murmur’s contrary:

Grand...

...Canyon-sized wake in the world, waking up every morning to see the mercies anew and adventures so thrilling that even Michael Jackson is giggly,

With the excitement of what is to come.

The trick, he once confided, is not to spend the whole day worrying,

But instead to “look at the man in the mirror,” know that you have what it takes to succeed,

and forget how anybody else may see you, for “they’ll just bite the dust” of the wake you leave as you blaze forth in glory, doing the impossible on the daily.

Grand.

That is what each and every one of us is capable of.

Grand.

Adventures that illustrates the illustrious beauty that we have chosen to become our reality.

Grand.

Piano playing Life’s symphony brilliantly, for since infancy we were able to instantly see the opportunities encompassing us, and like a young songbird spreading it wings,

So quickly did we learn that listening to the world is the quickest way for making the most of a day, for as Shakespeare once said,

“The earth has music for those who listen.”

So what are you listening to?

Each and every one of our lives are an instrument in the orchestra of Life,

Creating a beautiful cacophony through our hearts, stories, pains, and glories,

That astronomy can attest that our noise reverberates audibly throughout the universe as noise so sweet, even angels would stop to listen.

And yet, despite its indescribability, we don’t attend to it, leaving it as white noise yet to reach the canvas of our imaginations.

I know that taking time out of any of our days to listen to the sway of the trees,

Or simply enjoying the sweet company of friends and family, is nigh on impossible.

For the chaos that has been playing fortissimo in our ears has distracted us,

Whether it was the absence of the presence of rest, sleep, peace and stress-free living,

Or the presence of absence of those we have lost to war, death, and time,

Preventing the still, calm voice of Affection and Reason to rhyme sublimely

About our aptitude to reach even greater altitudes.

This has not been easy for, well, any of us.

For many of us, this is our family,

We have become family.

And your family will we remain.

And let’s be real, wolverines in close proximity can get a little feisty,

But know this,

We are family.

We are the Wolverines.

We will fight for you.

So my challenge for you is this:

Go. Be bold. Be fearless.

There is nothing to fear that you cannot overcome, especially when you got Family with you.

And we’re with you. Wherever and whenever you need us to be.

Have the courage, truly, to be thankful.

It’s not easy, but I promise you, it’s worth it.

Whether it’s thanking Vendetti for the inspiration of inspiring and expiring with Vital Lung Capacity, learning the tenacity of the cell wall from Kenna,

How to best be creative with Kreider,

Taking dozens of derivatives with Broyhill,

Avoid drama in Walker’s drama room,

or how to use the language art-form of music to communicate emotions to all generations by the one and only Ms. Reuter.

Whoever it is, be thankful.

Give ‘em a hug. They helped us get to where we are right now.

But even more so,

Let us go create, my dear classmates.

Let us go fight for what we believe in,

for it is therein that we will find the meaning that we so passionately seek.

Let us go prove to the world that we are the generation to redefine the very definition of the word: bold.

Let us go show them that we are the ones to lay a new foundation of love

and peace that catalyzes all cessations of discrimination and disbelief.

Let us go reveal the symphony that each one of us has a vital part to play.

Let us go show them our creativity,

whether it’s on the field, the canvas, the CANON cameras, or the chem-labs, show them what it means to be fearless.

And so fear less. We’re with you. And whether you feel like it or not,

You have what it takes.

So go.

Be grand.

And for what it’s worth,

I am so incredibly proud to be one of you.

You’re my family.

Always and everlastingly.

So, Let’s go and show the world who we really are.

Let’s go.