27 September 2024
2024 Graduation Speech:
Ah, Year 12. On a day like this, what do you say to a such a wonderful bunch of people who have done their best to lead with integrity, learn with fervour, participate with zeal and joy; a group of wonderful humans who will leave their fingerprints all over this place?
I am not convinced my words will have the depth of wisdom required to pay tribute to such a class nor to send out such esteemed graduates with the inspiration required for your next steps.
So, in realising this, I thought, what would you do if you were in my shoes? So, I went to AI and asked it to write a graduation speech for me!
So here we go.
No, I didn’t, as if anyone on this stage would do or have done that!
No, I went to the sage of this age, the cultural leader of your time, the one to whom so may look up to and are inspired to be like, I went to TayTay! With her following, cultural relevance and wealth of wisdom and experience how could I go wrong!
In her address to the NYU graduating class of 2022, do you know what she said? In the conclusion to her speech, she said the following; “the scary news is: you’re on your own now. Cool news is: You’re on your own now.”
Such wisdom! You’re on your own, now. How exciting. How foreboding. All I have to do now is hope that RCC has achieved its main aim; providing you with an education that has prepared you to be ‘on your own’.
So, graduating class of 2024, get ready… to be on your own! This is what we have prepared you for, right? To be on your own? The purpose of a good educational institution is to ready you for the wonderful experience of loneliness and isolation; to be on your own…
Or is it?
What is it that makes Ms Swift’s perceived pinnacle, purpose, or culmination of years of study and education? Moreso, I wonder what makes Taylor so excited and scared to be on her own, alone?
Think about it…
If TayTay is living the best life, the life so many want to live: fame, fortune, free tickets to the NFL, one envied by so many, I think her words should definitively give us pause to consider if they are true or not.
Why is she so excited to be on her own? No responsibility, no one telling her what to do, she gets to be the boss and it all gets to be about her? I guess that would be fun? What about the fear though? Is she afraid because she doesn’t want to be lonely; is she worried about not having a community or friendships in which she finds purpose? She doesn’t like silence? That sounds fair too…
So, if this is the case, then I assume Taylor’s perceived purpose of education must be to ready you for this loneliness? I hope our education has done this, Class of 2024! I hope school has been all about you, prepared you to be you, equipped you to survive, enabled you to succeed, you to thrive, you to make the most of every opportunity. I can only hope that you are ready to go it alone in this big wide world, feeling both an excited anticipation and a reluctant uncertainty.
It’s gunna be tough, I get it TayTay, I get it.
But and this is a big but, what if TayTay is wrong? I know, stay with me, you didn’t see this coming, did you?
What if the purpose of education wasn’t to prepare you to be on your own, get the best marks, learn how to dominate and get to the top? What if it wasn’t just lessons in how to write revenge songs so you feel okay, or love songs, so you feel okay, or girl power songs so you can go it alone and watch the NFL for free?
What if the purpose was something far greater? Far beyond you being alone. What, in fact, if it was about the opposite? Equipping you to know you are not alone, never alone. What if education was not supposed to be an experience or survival lesson so you can know how to … but rather a set of lessons designed to create a character in you that helps you realise identity, purpose and hope is found in connection, beyond yourself, in faith, community, in others, in serving. What if, and look around you, what if as you graduate you are far from alone and that is how it is supposed to be?
Socrates, not TayTay, sorry, an old school philosopher and educator who lived 2,600 years ago suggested the purpose of education is not to fill people up so they know stuff that will help them to thrive on their own, but rather to light a fire that keeps burning…
Socrates proposes that education is not a finite moment that ends here because you are full of knowledge and now you’re on your own and that’s it. In fact, if it is a fire, it is the opposite right? It continues to burn; it is alive and changing and growing and seeking…
Let’s think about it together.
For it to be fire, it must keep burning, yeah? And for a fire to keep burning it can never be on its own, or alone, it actually can’t exist if left alone. For a fire to burn it needs oxygen, little sticks and big sticks, kindling, protection from things that try to put it out, it needs stoking and redirecting, it needs continued careful attention, sometimes backburning to get it under control. Often, when fire joins with more fire it burns brighter, like it wasn’t meant to be left alone.
Oswald Chambers, a preacher mate of mine who is only 250 years old, takes this one step further and argues that learning, the metaphorical burning fire that drives us to grow and learn and connect rather than be filled and ready to be alone, is not designed to give us post-able life lessons, but rather become a part of us, part of our character, formational.
Let me read to you again what he said…
We are apt to think that everything that happens to us is to be turned into useful teaching (or in nowadays a post); it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz. into character. We shall find that the spheres God brings us into are not meant to teach us something but to make us something.
The last 13 years of your very young lives have to be about more than just filling your brains or preparing for loneliness – surely. And if it is then I think we have failed you. I don’t see full brains in front of me, ((in fact I am sure some parents are worried as the final exams approach they are not full enough!)) I also don’t see a lasting loneliness; I see a community of connected young people ready to make an awesome impact on their world.
So what then, I am back to square one. What words do I say to a such a wonderful bunch of people who have done their best to lead with integrity, learn with fervour, participate with zeal and joy; a group of wonderful humans who will leave their fingerprints all over this place?
I think as an RCC graduate I want to tell you this; never let your flame or the flame of another go out. Never stop learning. But not for the sake of fame or fortune, not for the sake of an enviable story on snap or perfect picture on insta or whatever platform will take over next.
It is my deep hope that as you leave here you understand that the circumstances God has allowed you to encounter, your spheres of life as Oswald calls it, and I know for all of you it has not been easy and you have walked a hard road together, I hope these moments have not been about a grade, an achievement, or a mark, a repeatable lesson, a postable moment, or the inspiration for another flaming break-up song.
I hope we have given you the kindling to build a character of worth. One that knows how to persevere, how to recognise a friend in need and do a something about it, one that is not afraid to connect, grow, make mistakes, learn, and repeat, one that humbly trusts and forgives, one that waits, listens and then speaks.
With this character, then you are ready to graduate. Then you are ready to go into the world and realise you are not alone, nor are those around you. Sure, be scared, its new and different and unknown, but fear not, even when Jesus graduated his disciples, he reminded them that they would not be alone, but rather have all they need.
Look around you graduating class of 2024. You have everything you need to keep the flame burning that will grow you into a person that will have the impact they need to have on those around them. Look around you, notice the kindling that will soon be gone but got the fire started, notice the fresh breaths of wind that fanned into flame the character you are taking with you, look around you and notice the ones who protected you from the moments that nearly put your fire out, look around you and see the big burners; the logs that are going to be a part of your flame for a long time, look around you, be thankful, look around you and realise that your education is only just beginning and your character that God and your community are fanning into flame will have a phenomenal impact on your world and your people.
As I look around me, I see a crowd of faces, some wanting to be you, some wanting to be where you are at, some so proud of you leaving, some just wanting you to leave (joking). Some sad to see you go, some happy to see you go (in a good way of course)? Some inspired by you, some safer because of you, some courageous because of you and many tears because of who you are and what you have accomplished. Even me.
As you step out into the world be it bravely, timidly, fearlessly, gently encouraged by the loving parent or aggressively pushed by the sibling who finally gets the good room, the opportunity fast approaching is to put into practice in real time, real life what you have become, not what you know. Graduating class of 2024, today we send you out somewhat like Jesus did, proud of who you are and who you are becoming, and into all the world knowing God is with you always and so are we.
Fan into flame …
