I think I
am approaching 100+ commencement exercises dating back to my brother's high
school graduation (since he was older I had to attend). The most recent was our youngest son's high
school graduation. In between these have
been my own (4), spouse (1) children (let's see - 4 high school, 2
undergraduate, 1 graduate school and at least 2 more undergraduate forthcoming)
the remainder are those I attended in professional capacities. I cannot begin to count the number of
commencement speeches I have heard given several had multiple speakers.
I recall
two of our children's speakers, Connie Chung and David Gregory - both
celebrities and impressive. I know they
said great things, profound, and certainly memorable. Except, I don’t remember now what they said
but I know they were good.
Truth is,
we listen to these well-intended words of reflection, inspiration, and etc. in
the moment quickly forgetting leaving little or no lasting impact on the
graduates let alone the audience. Yet
the tradition continues and will continue as long as there are graduations
irrespective of the milestone achieved.
Unless …
I
appreciate in many communities who stream live, broadcast or utilize other
technologies to capture these speeches so that they can be reviewed or referenced
in ways never before possible. Recently
at my son’s commencement both the
student speaker as well as commencement speaker had salient points not only for
the graduates but also for each of us in the audience. I hope to track them down so that what at the
moment struck me as an important thought or call to action can be
revisited.
In all
sincerity, I don't want to rely on my memory for recalling just what was said
because I simply had too many other things to be thinking about - like post
commencement activities as one example or that one day each of my children will
be gainfully employed and living under someone else’s roof. I can only
trust that someone will download to You Tube, Facebook or other social medial
outlets the thoughts, comments, and observations of speakers and their
addresses.
A quick
word for our commencement speakers past, present, or future - your words do
matter. The impact, however, is seldom
immediate. Listeners albeit graduates,
parents, siblings, friends and guests each need time to reflect. Reflection does not happen in the
moment. It requires time, focus, and
most certainly a desire to ponder, consider, and examine ones' life as informed
by the thoughts, comments, and observation embedded in a commencement address.
On the
lighter side, commencement addresses often have humorous outright funny
stories, jokes, and the like. Though
many of these are contextual, they nonetheless get easily lost or forgotten if
not available to revisit, review or reflect upon.
Again,
this all to say that what is said at commencement matters and I for one
appreciate greatly the time, energy, and effort speakers expend creating a
meaningful speech. I just want the
opportunity to revisit, review, and reflect - the great news is that we
can. We just need to make sure that we
are intentional to stream, record, post, and make accessible to all who have an
interest -
I close
with my one of my favorite commencement quotes - George Bernard Shaw "You
see things; and you say “Why?” But I dream things that never were; and I say “Why not?”
So,
"why not" indeed – revisit, review, and reflect – those speeches do
matter!
