As a senior, my year has been filled with chaos! The dreaded stack of college
applications never seems to get any smaller, and once I think I may finally be
seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, scholarship applications start
flooding in. On top of that, I feel obligated to be involved in as many
activities as humanly possible. After all, this is my senior year in high
school, the last year I have to be young, free, and exciting!
But what does this mean? Is there nothing left to live for after graduation?
Does the achievement of a diploma mean the end of the road? When I turn
eighteen, am I accepting chain of dead weight? Every sign seems to be promoting
the same message: Live it up Your years in high school are the best years of
your life Young people have all the fun Youre going to miss this.
While I must agree that young people do indulge in fun, carefree activities, I
do not understand the never-ending funeral service. Every activity and
accomplishment during senior year is our last.
You have to be there; this is your last Christmas concert!
This is it, the last football game of your high school career.
This is that last opportunity we will have to see each other for, well, a
lifetime Do you remember when
Why?! I may be graduating from high school, but I am not, as far as I know,
crawling into my deathbed any time soon. Sure, life is going to be shaken up
after graduation. Our class will part, and we will all travel down separate
paths. Activities will change! Hello, reality! Some will head off for college.
Some may honor our country by enrolling in the Armed Forces. Most of us will be
searching frantically for employment; we all have to eat, right?
Passion, freedom, laughter – these joys do not come to an end solely because we
have grown up.
As an incredibly wise poet once wrote, You have brains in your head. You have
feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're
on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to
go. – Dr. Seuss
Graduation can be a miserable experience if you allow it to be, but that goes
for every other experience you will have in a lifetime. You can look at it as
the end of a long, unforgettable journey, believing that your best years truly
have passed. However, it can also be a wonderful, liberating experience!
Acknowledge all that you have accomplished. Congratulate your classmates, and
keep in touch with them. Remember that this is only the beginning. Every day, we
are blessed with an opportunity to grow, challenge ourselves, and make a
difference. If we choose to spend our last days together crying and dwelling
on the minor downfalls of reality, we will be missing out on making even more
great memories. Why not dance like fools? Study as though books are going
extinct. Actually acknowledge that our teachers have lives outside of the
classroom, and get to know them. Get to know yourself. Figure out our goals,
passions, and motivations. If we have those three figured out, the anticipation
of the future should be exhilarating!
As the days dwindle down, graduation is getting closer and closer. All of those
so-called last events keep passing by. But, ultimately, it is our decision as
to whether or not we make something meaningful of them.
To quote one of my absolute favorite movies, If you wanna be somebody, if you
wanna go somewhere, youve got to wake up and pay attention. – Sister Act 2
Be passionate! Be free; and laugh! Whether you are a senior in high school, or
you graduated fifty years ago, every day could be your last. Do your best. Be
grateful for what is sent your way. I dont know about you, but at the end of my
life, I want people to think of the difference I made in their lives. Instead of
a never-ending funeral, I want my memory to be a never-ending celebration of
what life has to offer. What would you want people to remember about you? I
guess we are all looking for that answer...
As Ronald Bond, principal of Dover Middle School used to say, Make it a great
day, or not. The choice is yours!
