Prompt: Write your own commencement speech for whoever needs it—whether it’s your own graduate, family, or community. Your change making could start here, with your own words.
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Hello, Graduates of the Class of 2020! You may be graduating from High School or Higher Education, a job training program, or the School of Life. Who would have thought when the ball dropped on December 31st and Barbara Walters accurately proclaimed, "This is twenty twenty," that six months later we would find ourselves here?
It's been a wild ride, but not in a good way. In the way where you get off the ride covered in someone else's vomit and you all file a class action lawsuit against the amusement park, but you lose the lawsuit and have to pay Six Flags' legal fees. I mean I'm assuming it's a Six Flags in this metaphor because that kind of shit would not fly at Dollywood.
Wow, this speech is going a little off the rails, but that's the nature of the times we're living in. We'd better get used to uncomfortable digressions and bizarre tangents.
Speaking of discomfort - here's where I'm going to say something sincere - discomfort is where growth and change happen. We aren't going to change the grotesque injustices that occur in this country along racial lines as well as along gender, sexual orientation, and class lines, unless we are willing to do the difficult and uncomfortable work. The system is a mess, some of it needs to be torn down and hauled to the dump, and it's going to take some young, energetic people to commit to the work of cleaning it up.
You are graduating from something so you've proven that you know how to study and learn. Never stop educating yourself. Stay curious, stay open. Seek out information that challenges what you think you already believe. Don't live your life with your head in the sand, peeking out only for the safe information that confirms your beliefs and biases. Listen to others' perspectives.
Drink plenty of water, eat your vegetables, and take the time to rest when you need to. Living a good and decent life takes effort, but it will be worth it. You are worth it. We all are worth it.
In closing, I will leave you with a few life pro tips. If you've made it to age 25 without learning how to fry an egg, scrub a toilet, or do your own taxes, you're doing it wrong. Also, it's totally fine if you don't separate your laundry as long as you use cold water.
Congratulations and good luck!
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