This time of year brings with it bittersweet feelings. We witness high school seniors receiving their diplomas. Diplomas that signify an end to their childhood education. Diplomas that are their entry into the world of adulthood.
Students who have finished their elementary education are promoted into high school. They are about to enter a completely different educational world.
As parents watch their children take their first steps into a larger world, they are assailed with memories of when their chlidren were born, when they took their very first steps, when they started talking, their first day of school, along with so many other firsts. In some corner of the lives of the parents, they long for those times. Yet, they know what is taking place in front of them is the way things are supposed to be.
Listening to the speeches from the students and graduation speakers, I wonder what if the parents of the students were to be the speakers? What would they say to these young people? What advice would they give them? What would they tell them about life? About the new journey they are beginning?
Would they tell them about obstacles they will encounter? About how to overcome the rough spots in their lives? About having to make difficult decisions? About choices they will face? About how to deal with people they thought were a friend and then proved otherwise? About their relationships with other men and women? About how you know when you’ve met the person you are sure you want to have next to you for the rest of your life?
Hopefully, a lot of these topics have been discussed already at home. But there are many that probably haven’t been brought up. However, time will see to that. It has a way of doing so.
There’s something that all parents should consider in talking with their children -- especially the older children. And that’s what they feel they would have done differently in their lives. About what they feel were the mistakes they made. And what they did to rectify them.
In sharing their own life stories with their children, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, close adult friends need to remember when discussing life is to always, always let them know how much they are loved and always will be, that no matter what happens in their lives, they will always have support and people to fall back on, and to be honest.
For all the students who are embarking on the next phase of their lives, they need to remember one basic thing -- that even though you will make friends and even keep some all your life, no one can ever replace family. There is always a family member who will be there or you. The older you get, the more you realze how important family is.
As for myself, I would tell all graduates -- eighth-grade, high school, college -- these few pieces of advice: be kind, work hard, be respectful, always give back, and be responsible for your words and actions.
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