Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Welcome ... again ... to the graduation of the class of 2012... and a congratulations to you class ... you deserve it. First of all ... thank you class ... I am honored to be chosen to speak tonight and I am truly honored to have been able to spend these last four years ... with all of you. The day has finally arrived. It is June 7th, 2006... 7 p.m. It is so hard to believe that this is the day that we have been counting down to for the last few months. This is supposed to be the end of the beginning, the first day of the rest of our lives ... we all seem so set with our future and we seem so sure of exactly what it will foretell. However, regardless of how mature we may think we are ... we are not. We are still so young and new. We have so much to learn. So much more note-taking to take. So many more halls to walk and so many more people to meet. So very few allowed sick days to take. We have so much more space to make mistakes ... but also ... we have the space to correct them. We may be out of the building, friends, but we will be taught and tested for decades to come ... but this time in life. The memories of tonight and these last four years will soon be added with new memories, new friends, new jobs, new loves and relationships, and most important will be a new you. Maybe in the next few years you will be a mom ... or dad, but just maybe you will never have kids. Maybe you will start a career right out of high school, but maybe you will go to school ... hey maybe you will go to school for the rest of your life. But whatever we may become, we can all remember that these last four years have demanded patience ... and have demanded time. The last four years has offered an education ... the last four years has offere... ... with a small act of kindness. Kindness is just taking time out of your day to help ... and to not expect anything in return ... like Isaiah, Denies, and others with these special purple ribbons. Hey and maybe you are easy going like Blake c ... he thinks that just liking him for who he is and not for what you want him to be is kind. You never truly know what happiness a simple act of kindness will bring about. As said before, we are still so very young and new, and we have so much to learn. "Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day ... " The challenge is ours ... not just as graduates ... but us as the future ... let us create a world where human relationships are what we value ... and where kindness is the basis of that. Let us go into a world where small acts of kindness are more important that act of self.