My grad speech

"I thought I wouldn't cry..."

It's been a year since I've been here. It's funny how time sneaks up on you, isn't it? I've just finished my second semester of senior year and consequently the last semester of my high school career. Around me is the clutter of 18 years of existence. That's crazy, isn't it? To think, this is only the beginning. We think it's an end--an end to high school, and end to familiarity and comfort in our parents' home, a slow end to our dependence on our parents, an end to friendships--the point is, it always feels like an end. It's only the beginning. On average we have about 60.4 more years; we've only lived about a quarter of our lives. I've only lived about a quarter of my life. Yet I think it's an end. Is there ever an end? The world doesn't end, there is no edge, you know.

To start this very long end to my life, I'm going to Dickinson College, whose mascot is a Red Devil. This mascot came from a football game, where Dickinson's team just would not give up. They pushed and they fought. They were devils to play.

I want to be that devil. I want to push and fight and never give up. That's exactly what I do. I set goals and I reach them. And you know what? I'm going to rule the world. Forget about the small things, I'm dreaming big.

My counselor asked me what I want to do with my life. I answered, "Everything." Do you hear me? Everything. That's daunting and exhilarating. I can't think of a better way to spend my life than doing everything. Do they have a degree for that? No, of course not. To do "everything" you have to become a doctor, a lawyer, a dentist, an artist. a businessman, a banker, a teacher...you have to be specific, you have to narrow it down, and you have to say, "I will do everything, right here." I don't want to. I want to do everything there is to do in every field possible. I want to travel, I want to teach, I want to open a bakery, I want to be an artist, I want to be a mother, I want to make a movie, I want to write a book, I want to release an album, I want to play with an orchestra, I want to take pictures of everything. I want, I want, I WANT.

"We have been created for greater things, not just to be a number in the world, not just to go for diplomas and degrees, this work and that work. We have been created in order to love and be loved," said Mother Teresa.

I want to live in a way and do things that mean something.

But what happened to just living life and being happy? Not everything can be thought out with an impact crater the size of the moon. I don't think great people try to be great people; they just try to be people. People that push and never give up. People that love. And you know what? They get what they want, don't they? Especially when what they want lines up with what God wants.

Maybe it's not about making every stomach full, or curing cancer, or making the perfect government. Yes, those are great goals, but great goals aren't fulfilled overnight. It takes many drops to fill an ocean, moving multiple pebbles to move a mountain. It's doing something small--teaching a classroom of oblivious students, inviting the lonely kid to hang out,making a meal for someone incapable of doing so for him or herself--small things that make a difference.

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." I like quoting Mother Teresa.

Do you hear that? The world would be less without us. You, me, all of us were put here for a reason; we all have our pebble to move and our drop to fill.

So I stand before the blank canvas the world has opened up to me, with my paints in my hand, and I am going to paint the most fantastic thing this world has ever seen. I will take the world by storm.

I will do everything because, honestly, why settle for less?



We try to mark things linearly with mile markers and obvious signs and posts. Life isn't like that, though, life is like tree rings.  We don't look at trees and say, "Oh, that tree just got a new ring!" No, we don't see the effects of rain and sun until much later; we see it in the height of a tree from one season to the next, or in the rings when the tree is cut down. Human life is the same way, we change gradually. It's not until we've gone through a growing season that we realize how tall we are, or until we're dead that others realize how old we are, so to speak.

I am a tree just out a growing season right now, and I feel I need to thank my sun and rain.

I need to thank my parents for raising and teaching my; Dawn McLendon for teaching, mentoring, and inspiring me to be the best I can; my grandparents for encouraging me and giving bits of wisdom; Eric for saying, "I told you so," when I succeeded; all my aunts and uncles for standing by me; my cousins, siblings, and friends for letting me bend their ears; and every person I've ever come in contact with for influencing me in all the small ways.

I am taller, stronger, straighter, more independent, fiery, passionate, kind, loving, understanding, trusting, careful, brave, and even a little bit rebellious because of every one of you. It is because of you that I aim high and don't settle for less.