What I Wish I Could Tell Them...

Graduation is an interesting time of year.  For four (or more) years, students wait for this one day.  They plan, dream, and hope for the moment they walk across the stage to graduate from high school.  I find myself wondering if when all is said and done, they don't find it just a bit anticlimactic. 

As I sat through our graduation ceremonies today, I couldn't help but think of all the things I wish I could have told those grade 12s.  I also found myself wondering what they were thinking.  Were they regretting choices made as the scholarships were being handed out?  Were they wishing they had tried out for one more team or made the effort to join one more club?  Were they just wishing that it would all end and they could go off to some party somewhere and just leave it all behind?

I want to tell them that graduation is just one day.  It's what you do leading up to graduation that matters most.  In the grand scheme of things, high school is just four years of a long life.  What you don't realize is that the skills you acquire and the marks you earn will follow you through that long life.

I want to tell them to find their passion and to not let fear stop them from developing and pursuing it.  I want to tell them that there will always be another party and that it doesn't have to be the focus of every weekend and what you plan for through the week and if you miss one, life will go on.  I want them to know that their potential is greater than what they see because often we are so blind to our own abilities.  I want them to know that their teachers have high expectations of them because we know that with a little bit of effort, they could reach beyond their perceived limitations.  I want to tell them that we feel disappointed sometimes because we do our best to give them the tools they need, but at the end of the day it is their choice whether or not they want to use them.  Sometimes, I feel like I'm trying to give them the hammer to put in the nails and they are insisting on using a saw.  I want them to know that sometimes we get angry because they aren't giving themselves the respect they deserve and in turn they are being disrespectful to those around them.  I want them to understand that sometimes you won't like what you have to do, but that part of growing is knowing that even the stuff you don't like only lasts for a moment.  Do it, get it done, and move on.  It's so simple, yet so complex.  Why do you prolong the thing you want to do the least?  It won't change the outcome, at some point, you still have to do it.  I want them to know that self-control is one of the best traits you can develop.  It leads to love, compassion, understanding and when needed the ability to defend without getting angry.  I want them to look outside of themselves for a moment and see that the world around them needs a little love and compassion.  Do something for someone besides you.  Understand that it will affect you more than it will affect them.

And, when all is said and done, I want them to know that they are loved and it is because they are loved that we push, prod, correct, discipline, encourage, laugh and cry with them.