Dear Spike:
It was 92 degrees outside. And under my black cap and gown, I was sweating like a hippo on a treadmill.
I didn’t attend the commencement ceremony when I completed my undergraduate education. I didn’t really see the point. It was all just pomp and circumstance. A piece of paper. A name read on a loudspeaker. A walk across a stage for a piece of paper. And nothing more.
By the time I had completed my graduate studies, I had reconsidered. But on Sunday, as I stepped onto the broiling football field at California State University East Bay, I was all but certain that I'd made a mistake.
Then I saw you, perched in your mother’s arms and waving ferociously as I walked by in the processional.
And it all made sense again.
You probably won’t remember any of what went on Sunday. You slept through most of the ceremony, after all, (and I can’t really blame you — I wanted to sleep, too.) But I’m glad you were there, because it’s important to your mother and me that you understand, from an early age, just how important learning is in our family.
You have been blessed with privileges that most of the world will never know. Among the greatest of those privileges is the ability to seek and obtain an education.
Do not disrespect that privilege.
Learn. And when you’re done with that, learn some more.
And then more. And more. And more.
You don’t have to collect degrees like baseball trading cards. You don’t have to have a J.D., an M.B.A. or a Ph.D. And, in some limited circumstances, I would understand if you passed by a formal education altogether.
But do not pass up an opportunity to learn.
Read and write. Speak and listen. Discuss and debate. Ask questions. Ask questions. Ask questions. For these are the ways — the good ways, that is — in which our species differentiates itself from all others on this planet.
When you stop learning, you stop living.
Live long.
Love,
dad
3 comments:
Congratulations! I waffled on whether to walk or not when I finished grad school, but I am glad that I did. When Rob and I talk about education for our girls, I think our main concern is to try to talk them out of med school, should their proclivities lean that way.
Congratulations! And very well-said, as always. One of the proudest days of my life was when my son, who was three at the time, watched me walk at commencement. It's not that walking in the ceremony is important, it's having him see that the degree I received was important enough for his thirtysomething mommy to go back to school.
I so agree with Stephanie. I loved how my husband told our kids that my AA degree from community college was partially theirs. They we a big part of this thirtysomething mommy going back to school. Getting my BA with them watching was even sweeter, and then, my teaching credential. They knew that all my accomplishments were because of their efforts and sacrifices. I figured out a long time ago that when you are a parent, you do big things (like put on the hot robe and sit in the sun) just to teach a small lesson. It says so much more than words. Spike won't remember much of last Sunday's ceremony, but she will hear the stories, see the pictures and be convinced.
-Gaky
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