So here is my Commencement Speech... or at least what I wrote for it? I'm sure it's different from what I actually said, but that's okay.
Every time I have bumped into Dr. Nichols this semester, he’s always had the same thing to say. “Short, Michael” He calls me Michael… He and my mother are the only two. “Remember to keep it short.” So I had to tell him that I’m going to get him back for every Core Lecture I had to sit through. I was going to pass out notes, bring a projector so I could draw diagrams, the whole nine yards. So, faculty, consider this payback…
And speaking of the faculty, I would like to thank the faculty for moving our Commencement Ceremony back to Sunday, because you’ve saved me a good deal of money on a Mother’s Day present… Also, Happy Mother’s Day, Mom… I love you…
Albert Einstein once said, “Never think of the future—it comes soon enough.” However, today it almost seems impossible to not think of the future… Our time here at Saint Joseph’s College has all been a quest for the future… We have passed all of the right classes, and now it is time to take that next step into the future, no matter whatever direction that next step needs to be… Now that the future is going to come hurling at us faster than the speed of light, we must hope and pray this education gives us the strength, courage, and capacity to meet in head-on…
It is meeting these challenges head-on that we are going to have no choice but to do every day of the rest of our lives… But we should be ready… We’ve read all the Core books—okay maybe that’s not the best example… We’ve attended all the lectures—dang, I guess that won’t work either… Well, like I said, we’ve passed all of our classes, and now we are ready… All we need to do is embrace these challenges the future will inevitably bring us, and overcome them with pride… When I student taught last semester, I always told my students to not think of the test or quiz I was handing them as a challenging exam, but simply as an opportunity to achieve—yes, I was that guy… It’s like Mary Poppins once sang, “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”
One lesson I have learned one thing during my four years here that I want everyone to know about, it’s just that. Take reality, and the future that follows, with a dose of optimism… No matter how large a dose you need—whether it is the 20-milligram dose you need to finish your Core 10 presentation, or enough optimism to fill the reflecting pond when you listen to Avenue Q and they sing “what do you do with a B.A. in English” (But that may just be me)—the optimism will aid in every situation, changing it for the better…
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said… “what lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us”… So while we reflect of everything awesome we have been a part of in four years—whether it be October 8th, 2008 or celebrating the Basketball team’s awesome run to the Elite Eight—those things lie behind us… And we have enough optimism to take care of whatever future lies before us… But what lies within us, after our four years at Saint Joseph’s College? Is it the vignettes from House on Mango Street? Maybe… But more likely, it is Religio, Moralitas, and Scientia… More likely, it is the wisdom, strength, courage, and tenacity to do anything we want to do, and be anything we want to be…
On behalf of the Class of 2010, I would like to thank all of the faculty and friends, family and mentors—especially moms—for coming and celebrating our achievements. I speak for all of us when I say that we wouldn’t be sitting here without your love and support… And to my classmates, congratulations! I hope nothing but the best for all of you with your future endeavours… I can’t wait to be the creepy drunk alumni with you… I would like to leave everyone with words rehearsed by the cast of the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee so often… “Goodbye. Goodbye, goodbye” Esto Dignus Saint Joseph’s College.