Skills are skills. Knowledge is knowledge. And learning to persevere is invaluable. No one can take away from you what you have been taught.
Inspiring a new generation of graduates remains our task. For they are our future and they are at the precipice of new beginnings. To the class of 2024, I say be true to yourself, follow your dreams, and do honest work.
Nothing bad came from earning a dollar so long as it was done with integrity. Keep your nose clean. Happiness isn’t the end result, it is created along the way. Honor your family with visits. Respect yourself. Give to the world. Graduating Class of 2024, go forth and inspire, create, and take risks.
When I graduated from university we were asked to come up with a quote that best described our personal journey. Mine was simple: Boats in harbor are safe, but that’s not what boats are for. Remember that sails were meant for raising and taking you to places never conceived. Life is too short to wonder what if. Time is fleeting. So TikTok. Safety is the harbinger of bad choices, idle hands and mediocrity. Safety will render you catatonic and lead you to the false belief that you have nothing to offer. Sparkle, shine and go boldly.
Certainly you have your mother’s voice in the back of your mind; for moms have always tried to console us. They say things like, “you’re doing just fine. Keep your head up.” Mostly moms just try to make us feel better when we’re down. But they also have nuggets of wisdom hidden deep. Like coal that becomes a diamond, their words of encouragement become beacons of hope. Listen hard. When moms say anyone can be successful so long as their work is honest, take note.
We get so caught up distinguishing good jobs from our jobs. We create a social hierarchy of future potential that becomes a downward self-fulfilling prophecy. We say some jobs are supposedly worthy of pursuit and others are all we can get. We do it to ourselves when create a second class of jobs and the best we can do is call them “trades.” “Hey, you want to go into the trades?” Why not be a doctor or a lawyer. No, I’m just going into the trades. To heck with that. Skills are skills!And we need skills! I’m tired of people looking down on us just because all we have are skills.
Honest work starts with calloused hands and a keen eye. You can’t have one without the other. Match your wits with your trade. Hone your skills. If you wait on tables, decide to cook or be a housewife or house dad, just be the best you can be and you will be successful. Emily said that all the time and — fingers crossed — her restaurant is still going.
But she also said not to discount the value of education. Whether it’s a high school diploma, a college degree or a technical pursuit. It’s all we have and no one can take it away from you. An educated workforce along with a liberal government and free market society have separated our enormous economic engine in American from every nation on earth. It is what draws every eye on the planet to our soil. Opportunity remains America’s unifying force. Do not take it for granted.
This year, a guy I admire went to two graduations at the University of New Mexico. One was for his daughter who graduated with a masters degree in architecture. Then a few days later he went back to see his second daughter receive her undergraduate degree. This guy risked everything to come to this country at the young age of 13. With absolutely nothing, he and his wife fought to come to this nation and find opportunity. If not for themselves. For their children. Not many people can rise from seemingly nothing to having two children graduate from college.
We are liberated by a country that has given us so much. The question remains, what will you do to ensure it’s longevity, its creativity and its beauty. For certain, you will not stay in harbor. Safety never seized the day and no one ever went “safely where no man has gone before”.
Don’t settle for a “trade.” And certainly don’t settle to be safe. Learn a skill. Whether that skill teaches you to perform surgery, fuse copper, repair pipes, or make beautiful dovetail joints on wooden carpentry, let it take you where it may! For your ship is about to set sail. May the wind be at your back and may you be ready to let it take you for the ride of a lifetime.