A respected member of our community spoke at the graduation ceremony last week. His speech was beautiful and I hope that the people in the audience got as much out of it as I did. After he spoke, I quickly found a pen and paper to write done what he had said. These might not be exact quotations but I think I preserved his message nonetheless.
He said,
“If you spend one hour with your children a day, double it.”
“If you spend five minutes complaining, cut it by half.”
“If you spend five minutes talking good about others, double it.”
“Don’t let Sesame Street teach your kids everything.”
He went on to speak about his time in school and his experiences growing up. He said that the community raises a child, and that we all have responsibility to see the children in our school and community do well.
Part of his message was obviously directed at the parents. I hope they were listening to him. Because I see parents that have very little to do with their children whatsoever. Part of his message was aimed at the children of the school. I hope they were listening as well. We can all learn something from our elders. It was a great message and an excellent way to close out the school year.
4 responses to “Graduation”
Hi Chase,
What a beautiful and meaningful speech. Those words are worth typing up and framing.
Like you, I see parents who don’t seem to care about the future of their children. It’s so sad, as those are the adults who end up with a lot of issues to work through.
Thanks Barbara!
I think I will tell him you said that next time I see him. He’s a super-cool guy and I really do hope that his message sinks in.
That is so good! My parents never put in any face-time with me but would smack me if I failed. It went to the point where my mother and I didn’t speak for weeks when I was growing up and she hardly ever went to parent-teacher meetings.
It’s really true and sometimes I wish parents would get their act together, don’t they realise another human being’s life is in their hands?
Hey Chipazoid,
I don’t know why more parents don’t wake up. I know that we often don’t have enough time to do all the things we want in our daily lives. We live in an age of multi-tasking. We need to go to work and do housework as well. Sometimes that doesn’t leave people with much time left over.
But I truly believe that we can order our time. We can prioritize and make sure that we are there for our children. It is important.
Maybe people just don’t realize how important it is. I will keep coming back to this subject on my blog until people do. Thanks for the comment!