I found out about a contest. Being very competitive I entered the contest. The challenge was to write 300 to 800 words to a group of graduates. "Easy enough", I said to myself. I started fingers to the keys and the words flowed like water. Here is what I wrote:
There’s a Freedom after the Fight so “Diatribo”.
The moment you looked forward to. The moment you thought would never arrive. The moment you finally made it. Graduation. One of the many milestones of your life. Twelve years of discipline of either your own, your parents, a counselor, a grandparent, or another key person in your life. We can't make it through life on our own. Today you are here, not because you are so great, although you may be, but because of the greatness of someone else in your life. Today, may seem to be all about you, but the great sign of maturity is the ability to recognize greatness is always the result of a team effort. Most of us don’t remember the day we learned to hold a pencil and write our name. Most of us don’t remember the person who was responsible for the moment the light came on, that two plus two was four. However, ever thing we have learned has been line upon line, precept upon precept. We don’t come into the world knowing how to be a team player. From birth we don’t come out running down the court and laying up the ball and walking off the court a victorious winner. We crawl, we walk we run and then we run with a goal, mentally engage in that goal and then practice and stay in the game until the dream becomes a reality.
Today is not the end of a dream, but the beginning of the continuation of a dream; to stay in the game until the dream becomes a reality. Today we don’t close the book, we simply finish a chapter. What it took to get here, it will take to get you to the end of every chapter, in the book you are called to write. In every great book there is a hero and a villain, a lover and the loved, the suspense and the climax. Each day of our lives we get to make a choice. Will we choose to be the hero or the villain? Will we choose to be the loved or the lover? Between today and the day we close the book there will be suspense. Will we get into the college of our dreams, or will we get the dream job? Will we further our purpose for which we were born, or will we allow ourselves to be enslaved by a culture that tries to cap us off? Will you be a consumer or a creator? Will life be a drag, or a race run with perseverance? The choice is yours.
After today you will wake up and not have to be at class. There is no law you will break if you skip class. You can call off work and no one will call your parents. There is a freedom that always comes after the fight, but there is always another fight for freedom. So, choose your team wisely. We become like those we hang out with. In the book, Hero Maker, by Dave Ferguson he shares that the word for “spend time” in Greek, pronounced “dia-tree-bo (and transliterateddiatribo)means to “rub against” or “to rub off”. We tend to be like those we hang out with. We rub off who we are on others and visa versa. Up until this point in life most of the decisions about who you hung out with, were made for you. The coach chose the players. Your parents, or your geographic location determined the school you attended. Your class schedule, or the spelling of your last name chose where you sat in class. After today, those choices are yours. “Diatribo” wisely. Those that rubbed you the wrong way and those that rubbed against you, determined chapter one. Those that you diatribo tomorrow determine who you are to become, and who they are to become. Continue to write your chapters and help others to write theirs with no regret.
There’s a Freedom after the Fight so “Diatribo”.
The moment you looked forward to. The moment you thought would never arrive. The moment you finally made it. Graduation. One of the many milestones of your life. Twelve years of discipline of either your own, your parents, a counselor, a grandparent, or another key person in your life. We can't make it through life on our own. Today you are here, not because you are so great, although you may be, but because of the greatness of someone else in your life. Today, may seem to be all about you, but the great sign of maturity is the ability to recognize greatness is always the result of a team effort. Most of us don’t remember the day we learned to hold a pencil and write our name. Most of us don’t remember the person who was responsible for the moment the light came on, that two plus two was four. However, ever thing we have learned has been line upon line, precept upon precept. We don’t come into the world knowing how to be a team player. From birth we don’t come out running down the court and laying up the ball and walking off the court a victorious winner. We crawl, we walk we run and then we run with a goal, mentally engage in that goal and then practice and stay in the game until the dream becomes a reality.
Today is not the end of a dream, but the beginning of the continuation of a dream; to stay in the game until the dream becomes a reality. Today we don’t close the book, we simply finish a chapter. What it took to get here, it will take to get you to the end of every chapter, in the book you are called to write. In every great book there is a hero and a villain, a lover and the loved, the suspense and the climax. Each day of our lives we get to make a choice. Will we choose to be the hero or the villain? Will we choose to be the loved or the lover? Between today and the day we close the book there will be suspense. Will we get into the college of our dreams, or will we get the dream job? Will we further our purpose for which we were born, or will we allow ourselves to be enslaved by a culture that tries to cap us off? Will you be a consumer or a creator? Will life be a drag, or a race run with perseverance? The choice is yours.
After today you will wake up and not have to be at class. There is no law you will break if you skip class. You can call off work and no one will call your parents. There is a freedom that always comes after the fight, but there is always another fight for freedom. So, choose your team wisely. We become like those we hang out with. In the book, Hero Maker, by Dave Ferguson he shares that the word for “spend time” in Greek, pronounced “dia-tree-bo (and transliterateddiatribo)means to “rub against” or “to rub off”. We tend to be like those we hang out with. We rub off who we are on others and visa versa. Up until this point in life most of the decisions about who you hung out with, were made for you. The coach chose the players. Your parents, or your geographic location determined the school you attended. Your class schedule, or the spelling of your last name chose where you sat in class. After today, those choices are yours. “Diatribo” wisely. Those that rubbed you the wrong way and those that rubbed against you, determined chapter one. Those that you diatribo tomorrow determine who you are to become, and who they are to become. Continue to write your chapters and help others to write theirs with no regret.
I would love to have the privilege of speaking to the faces under the hats and robes of the graduates today. I have such a passion for young people. I feel as though because of my over six decades of life I have something to share. I have learned so much that I only wish I would have known, when I was young. Life is a great teacher. When you are young one thinks they know it all. As however we age we come to turns with how little we truly know about life.
ACTION STEP: Everyday we are learning. Of course some days we learn more than on other days. But everyday we wake up and take a breath and we learn something we didn't know the day before. Each day is a day of new opportunities. Share what you know with those younger than yourself. Share what you know everywhere you can. Pray for God to give you opportunities to share with others what you have learned by the grace of God. To teach is to learn twice.
Job 12:12
(NIV)
" Is not wisdom found among the aged?
Does not long life bring understanding?"
(NIV)
" Is not wisdom found among the aged?
Does not long life bring understanding?"
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