Posted on July 6, 2015 at 9:31 AM by Nancy Cooper
I cannot be with you this year but really wanted to share my message to you.
Congratulations. Graduation is both a completion and a beginning. Today marks the completion of twelve years of public school. This is an important accomplishment so celebrate, enjoy this day and make memories that you will look back on and smile. Tomorrow your new chapter begins and you move onward.
What will the next twelve, twenty, fifty years be? Well, that is up to you. You can be whatever you choose to be. You can choose your profession, you can choose how to spend your time, you will choose who you marry and even if you will marry. Yes, you can and will choose. Make sure you choose wisely. Make sure it is your choice because in the end, right or wrong, you will live with it.
Often we seek the opinion and advice of our parents, friends and others we respect. Seeking opinions and advice is good but in the end you still choose. You have an inner voice, intuition, or whatever you call it and only you know what is right for you. Steve Jobs said, “Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”
I can say from experience that time passes quickly. Spend your time on the things you care about, with those you love because the next twelve, twenty, fifty years will pass in the blink of an eye. So always do your best, listen to your inner voice, have courage to follow your heart, love without expectation, and choose wisely. When you make a mistake, and you will- that’s called experience; choose to pick yourself up, lesson learned, and move onward.
Congratulations