In three days the Class of 2014 will walk across the turf at Husky Stadium, out the gate and down the road.
We hope this will be a step to bigger and better things for many, if not all, of you in this year’s graduating class. We’re happy to see how many, in the graduation section inside today’s paper, have ambitious plans for life after high school. We hope you follow through. This is what your teachers and others have been working to prepare you for during your high school years – to be successful, responsible and contributing members of society.
So we’re wondering, as you leave Sweet Home High School – or any of the other local institutions of learning in our area, how successful they’ve been.
Who are you?
Are you a go-getter, ready to take on the challenges of the world and make something happen to the best of your ability? Are you a softie, hoping that things will fall your way and life won’t be too hard? Are you waiting to get eligible for the Oregon Trail Card so you can spend your days fishing or watching TV and playing video games?
Some of that may sound a little unfeeling, but it’s reality; you know these types of people are all represented in our community.
Which are you? What kind of person are you going to be as you move on to college, or the metal shop, or the forest, or beauty school, or wherever you are heading? And what is success?
Our world today tells us that we are the masters of our own fate, that we are special. The result of postmodernism, which is the prevailing view of life for many in our society, is a heavy emphasis on No. 1. Think about how much time people spend engaged in activities that advertise who they are and what they’re up to, what they’re thinking – Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. (“Look what I did, hear what I’m saying!”)
Is this focus on yours truly really healthy and does it make us happy?
A couple of years ago, David McCollough Jr., a Wellesley, Mass. English teacher, became a YouTube sensation (2.3 million-plus views as of Monday morning) with a commencement address he gave at his high school. His message apparently rang a bell not only with them but with millions of others: “You are not special. You are not exceptional.”
McCollough’s speech lasted 12 minutes and 45 seconds, so we’re certainly not going to repeat it all here. You can Google his name and easily find the speech if you haven’t already seen it.
The short version of what Mr. McCollough said is that if none of us is really special, we shouldn’t spend our time waiting for people to recognize how great we are. There’s a logic behind his argument: If we all receive the trophies we may think we deserve, they would not indicate exceptionality because everyone would have one.
Thus, reasons Mr. McCollough, there must be more to life than living as a special person.
His answer: Do things for others.
“Selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself. The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you’re not special. Because everyone is.”
The fact that 2 million people have watched his speech suggests to us that the postmodernism we live in, which, to some extent, you’ve been educated in, does not ring true for all of us.
Postmodern thought includes ideas such as there is no absolute truth and reality is what each individual believes, which may not be the same for everyone. There are no real facts because, unless you recognize them as facts, they won’t be reality for you. There’s a lot more, but those are some of the key concepts.
You see a theme running through there? How about “I’m very important?”
But are we? Not according to Mr. McCollough. Oh, he’s not putting us all down, at least not more than we probably deserve to be if we have such inflated ideas of ourselves. But the fact is, none of us are that significant in and of ourselves.
Religions have answers to this question, and the traditional Judeo-Christian view that prevailed here in America before this postmodernist thought gained prevalence, was that we really couldn’t know true fulfillment outside of a relationship with God, which manifests itself in love for others.
Mr. McCollough may not have followed that trail to his conclusion, but the destination was remarkably similar: Serve others.
During your school years here in Sweet Home, you have been exposed to a wide range of opportunities to reach out. There have been penny and can drives. There is the May Week Clean-up, which you’ve just completed. There are the community service requirements that you had to fulfill to graduate.
And now you’re here, ready to head out into a world that tells you that you can only really rely on yourself and that it’s really all about you.
Well, we’re here to say that it isn’t all about you and we agree with Mr. McCollough that there’s far more to life than stroking your own ego or stepping on other people to get ahead. Obviously, this is a huge topic and we don’t have time here to flesh it out. But the principle is simple: Treat others the way you’d like to be treated.
This isn’t just moralistic mumbo-jumbo. It’s practical advice from people who have watched how life works for many years.
We agree with Mr. McCollough. The happiest people are not those who make the most money, or those who have gained prestige and power, or even those who have achieved their dreams in other ways.
No, the happiest people, the ones who really enjoy life, are those who put others ahead of their own interests, who choose to serve someone besides themselves.
And that’s what we advise you to do – at every step of your path.
Happy graduation!