Commencement 2015

by Irene Daniel

It's graduation season everywhere. Here in my hometown, Florence High School just graduated 136 young souls. As I sat there on the football field, off to the side of the graduates and the podium, I learned a lot about them. An impressive lot, they are.

FHS Principal, Thad Gates, informed us that each of them has performed at least 40 hours of community service, totally over 7500 hours of labor donated to our community. They have donated over 71 units of blood, saving over 200 lives. And they have earned over $1.5 million in scholarships. There is a lot more to say about them, but I just don't have room to list all of those accolades here. Congrats to all of you. Consider me very impressed with, and proud of, all of you!

Well, why wouldn't they be so accomplished already, and hold such bright futures? Our little high school has graduated many, many young adults who have gone on to do some truly impressive things; and for a century now. Our Gopher Alums include war heroes, doctors (Chiefs of Staff, no less), lawyers, judges, legislators, police chiefs, musicians, corporate executives, ranchers, farmers, small business owners, engineers, bureaucrats of all kinds, and even teachers, many of whom return here to teach; our very own Assistant Superintendent of the Florence Union School District, Tony Jimenez, a case in point.

At times during the ceremony, my mind would wander into curiosity about what these young people might do with their lives. I wondered if they were afraid of the future. Even a little bit? Maybe a lot? I wondered what they expected of themselves, and how their expectations and dreams will truly shape the 21st century. This is so, of course, for graduates everywhere.

I hope they were inspired, as I was, by the words of Dr. Amy Fuller, Superintendent of the Florence Union School District. She quoted some of the greatest examples of human wisdom we have known. From Abraham Lincoln's warnings of  the weakness of "a house divided against itself:" to Ghandi's challenge "be the change you want to see in the world;" to Mother Teresa's plea to "do small things with great love," she reminded all of us that true greatness lies in humility. She closed her remarks by reminding all of us that we have the power of choice, and we can choose to let life happen to us and remain in terminal victimhood, or we can choose to take the action necessary to be the hero in our own lives. She challenged us all to dare to be our own extraordinary selves.

I wonder if they realize that they are capable of such accomplishments as Lincoln, or Ghandi, or Mother Teresa, as well as myriad others. Is that what they heard in her remarks? I hope so. Because it's all true. I know from personal experience that this little cowboy town has produced legion examples of all that is great about our humanity. Most of us, at least at some point in our careers and paths, have worked in the service of others. Most of us made more than money. We made a difference in the lives of others and in many different and creative ways. It's what we do here. It's what we have always done.

While I recognized the names and faces of many of the graduates, I knew that they were the latest generation of families I know, have know for over 50 years. Sometimes, I still see my old classmates as teenagers, even though we comb gray and silver hair now. And I recognized their features in the faces of their descendants, and I feel a sense of completeness and wholeness in my life.

For this is my commencement, too; sans cap and gown. I am at another beginning in my life; the beginning of the end, perhaps, but a beginning nevertheless. This commencement, however, does not impose the kind of performance anxiety of my 3 past graduations. Graduation from high school meant that it was time to grow up and go to school and work. Graduation from ASU meant that I was on to the College of Law at UCLA. Graduation from law school meant taking the bar exam and securing a job or clerkship. I'm not complaining, mind you; for it is these graduations and what followed that permits this commencement into a future of my own creation.

For this new beginning is not about going out and getting things:  degrees, jobs, certifications, professional licenses, spouses, cars or houses. Been there, done that. Meh. Not that I would discourage any of our grads from seeking any and all of these things. I hope they never stop trying to improve themselves, and that they remain hungry for daily self-discovery. To stop growing in our humanity is to be a dead soul. I don't know about you, but I see a lot of dead souls walking around.

Wanting nice things in life is not a bad thing. However, I have seen so many examples of well-intentioned people justifying selling out their humanity for a high-profile material identity. I hope our Gophers are too smart to trade something so valuable for something so small. It is never an easy choice and I have been seduced into reaching for that bright shiny object, even though I knew that this thing that I sought, could never make me happy if I wasn't okay with myself without it. I learned to trust my inner intuitive soul, for deep inside I've always known that true success must be self-determined, not a reaction to somebody else's idea of  who I should be, or what I should be doing with my life. And I say to our most recent Gopher grads: Be you! And no one else. This is not an easy thing to do, but it is the only path to true happiness.

This new beginning for me is not so much about acquiring anything, although I do need some home improvement work done. Rather, it seems to be about letting go, releasing. Rather than wanting to be filled up with things, I feel an almost desperate need to empty myself out; to give of what I already have, of the fruits of my labor, the harvest of my past graduations -- the ones with caps and gowns.

I have friends old and new in my Town of Florence. And I am still learning, still challenging new horizons in my life. I'm learning how to grow my own vegetables in a classroom that is the high school auditorium in Old Main. I have occupied it so many, many times. So, I see my old high school as not just of my past, but a part of my new future. My Alpha and Omega.

When I moved away from here 40-plus years ago, I never thought I would be coming back here to live -- ever. And now, I don't want to be anywhere else in the world. This is my home and my hometown. This is where my new life commences.

To all of you who graduate from anywhere in 2015, be it kindergarten or college, high school or grad school, but especially my Florence Gophers, CONGRATULATIONS!! Go for it!!



                                                                          Copyright 2015, Irene Daniel, All rights reserved.