COMMENCEMENT
It never ends.
I’m not famous or terribly accomplished in a public way. Nor do I love public speaking. So I’m fine with nobody asking me to address a class of graduating students. But as the season of commencement speeches commences, I sometimes wonder what I would say. Do I know anything of value to help people diving off the school platform into so-called “real life?”
Some Thoughts
You haven’t asked me here today to share my wisdom, and I respect that. If you have something more important to do than reading my Substack drivel, for goodness sakes, do it.
Why?
Because I’m a fool. I don’t know anything. Nobody really does. Not in a way that is superior to you. But when people send out flattering invitations to share wise words to help students, some well-meaning folks with altruistic hearts will respond.
Actually, that is the first thing I think is worth sharing with you: Nobody really knows anything. In addition, no matter how old you are or what your education, everybody—I mean everybody—is screwed up, sometimes scared, sometimes wanting to hide that and other so-called weak human qualities, sometimes obsessive and angry and confused and judgmental about everyone and everything. In other words, we are all basically the same and just trying to do the best we can if we are people who are basically well-meaning.
Caveat
Not everybody is well-meaning. It is important to know that. So don’t waste any more time than it takes to deduce this with those who do not wish you well. It doesn’t matter who they are—strangers, colleagues, family. It doesn’t matter if they are not self-aware enough to know they don’t wish you well. Don’t waste your time. When they show you how it is with you, believe them. Learn whatever there is to learn, and move on.
Good Folks to Listen To
If somebody does wish you well, you will sense it immediately. They will listen as much as they talk. They will be curious about you and, if they can help, they might even share insights that sting you. But listen to them. None of us can fully know ourselves and our own secrets without the friction and pain of social interaction.
For the Future
Never stop questioning. Enjoy being curious. These things are essential to your life. Don’t squander them. Exercise questioning and curiosity to enable your and other people’s growth. Be the one to say something difficult to somebody who cannot grasp it for themselves. Risk it out of love and wanting the best for people.
Stop compulsively trying to get or accomplish anything. See this kind of craving for what it is: an addiction. Don’t hate it. It is merely your ego, and we all have one. Instead, love the misdirected desire behind this because what you really crave is to be Who You Really Are.
Who are you really? Perhaps finding out is a great way to spend this blink of time in a human body. And in doing so, a side effect will be receiving what you are meant to have and accomplishing something good.
And never stop commencing . . .
Commence, commence, commence. Every second of this extraordinary life, and even beyond . . .
Betsy Robinson missed her college graduation because she had left the year before to be an actor and earned her degree by sending reports and short stories to a sponsoring teacher. She is grateful to that teacher, now dead, who was worth the college tuition. On the day of graduation she was getting fired from a summer theater job. Betsy is a longtime student of the Siddha Yoga Correspondence Course and daily meditator, and the more she does it, the less she knows. She writes funny stories about flawed people and examines our herd culture. www.BetsyRobinson-writer.com.
Wonderful post! Thank you !
OH, I love this .... thank you ...!!!! 😁