We’ve reached that time of the year when colleges and high schools across the country are celebrating commencement with lengthy ceremonies featuring student speakers, choirs, dignitaries and more. As these graduates gather together with family and friends, more likely than not a special speaker will be invited to address the students before they go out into the world as adults. This week I learned that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise appearance as the commencement speaker at John Hopkins University.
I can’t imagine what the crowd must have thought when it was announced that he was the surprise speaker. In the middle of an unjust war, his country fighting for its very life and identity, someone at Johns Hopkins had enough forethought to reach out to the man who has earned the respect and admiration of millions of people across the globe for his steady and determined leadership during these troubling times. What a wonderful idea!
That he was able to actually speak to the graduating class when threats on his life are a daily concern speaks volumes for how determined President Zelensky is to get his message out to all corners of the world. If I had been sitting in that audience, I would have leapt to my feet and given him a standing ovation while tears rolled down my face!
That left me thinking back to my high school graduation. I remember that it was an unexpectedly mild summer night in Minnesota with enough wind to keep the mosquitoes away and turn the tassel of my mortarboard into a nuisance as it whipped around my face. Clouds were building in the sky above us as our families gathered in the bleachers of the football field and my classmates and I readied for the trek up the long staircase from the halls of the high school to the nearby football field.
Mr. Harvey, one of my favorite teachers and the teacher our class had personally selected to give the faculty address, stood at the front of the line, giving every graduate a hearty handshake before we moved on to find our seats. He couldn’t help but also comment to me that “Miss Barbara” still had not collected her 9th grade mythology thesis from him, but he assured me would hold it for me until I did.
I remember what I wore, who was there from my family, the blue and white roses given to each graduate and even the songs the choir sang during the ceremony, but I don’t remember the name of the commencement speaker. He was a local politician of some sort I think, but what I do remember vividly is the small gift he gave to each of us; a round metal pin about the size of a quarter, white in color with the capital letters TUIT printed in the middle. It seemed an odd gift until the man began to speak.
As we left one chapter of our lives behind us and headed into the world of what seemed at the time to be adulthood, the speaker encouraged us to always go for what we wanted. To never give in to the concept of doing things “when we got around to it” so as to never have regrets in life.
That small round pin with TUIT emblazoned on it was his reminder to us that we must always find a way to get “A-ROUND-TUIT”. It’s been decades since that night and while it’s pretty likely that pin disappeared long ago, the message it represented has never left my mind. Would that be the same for my other 200+ classmates? I’m not sure, but as with so many things in life, if you can positively change just one person’s life, then you have made an impact. The nameless, faceless man who spoke that night so many years ago, had a lasting impact on my life all thanks to a small little pin and the message he felt passionately enough about to share with a group of kids.
Decades from now how many of the Johns Hopkins class of 2023 will remember President Zelensky addressing them and his message of grit and determination, perseverance and love of country? I’m willing to bet it will be more than just one. What those students learned during that commencement ceremony may have been more valuable than anything else they learned during their time at school – a belief that together, we can conquer evil and prevail.
If you are a new newly minted graduate, I wish you nothing but the best and a lifetime of success, happiness, personal accomplishment, and an opportunity to get around to it for everything you desire. And if you are well past graduation, please use this gentle reminder that now is the time for you get around to it!
Be well my friends,
BAL
Author Barbara A. Luker 