Graduation Speech

Well, seniors, here we are. It is time for us to "take on the world" as the popular Christian song states. Not only are we going to be responsible for taking on the world in the near future, but we will also be responsible for many, many other things. Just what we need, right? Well, think about it. New college classes, new jobs, new friends, possibly new spouses in the slightly distant future, new rug-rats in the more distant future. I don't know about you, but the idea of the world giving that much responsibility to someone like -- you fill in the blank -- scares me severely. Are we going to make it? If so, how? To help answer these questions, we needn't look any further than one of the greatest of our new obligations: the encouragement of one another.

Now before you write me off as a lunatic or a "softy" (or both), think on the word I just used. Encouragement. Webster says that to encourage is "to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope;" but these are just mere words, right? How can a dictionary express the meaning of something that can change a person's life in a moment or lift someone from the abyss of despair to that wonderful feeling of being loved and needed? I can tell you truthfully that without the daily encouragement that I get from those around me, I would not be standing before you this evening. These people include my parents, my friends, my teachers, anyone who is able to say a nice world to me to inspire me to do my best and keep going. All of you must have experienced some form of encouragement in your lives or else you wouldn't be joining me on this football field to celebrate our completion of high school.

My point is this: Encouragement is one of the most powerful forces that can be unleashed on this planet. Here's a little list of things that can be accomplished without encouragement ... Fairly short list, isn't it? I do not have a list of the things that are possible with encouragement because the use of that much paper would be environmentally devastating. You get the picture. We need encouragement and we need it as often as possible. Just like the air we breathe, if we lack encouragement in our lives we often feel suffocated. Are you getting enough of it in your life, or are you suffocating?