You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy™
Graduation 2017!
Middle School. High School. College.
All over the country their is a universal, timeless right of passage taking place. It’s a time where young people walk through a life portal and gaze at a universe that has always been there, but suddenly resonates on a different harmonic level.
High School kids leave behind the bonds of mom and dad and push the limit of themselves to find out who they really are.
College kids leave behind the insouciant freedom of academia and forge into the real world where they quickly learn that what they just did the last four years, may or may not matter.
I graduated so many years ago, there is a cobweb in my memory. 1985 to me is like a rusty barnacle on the bottom of a boat; just there, stuck to a dirty hull submersed in water, obscured from view. 1985 is a date in history, so lost in meaning, it is covered with dust on the forefront of my mind. There is so much clutter on what happened, I need a leaf blower to dust off my thoughts and provide clarity.
My son is graduating from High School in a few weeks. My daughter is graduating from College in a few weeks. I graduated from high school 36 years ago. I graduated from college 32 years ago. Just writing this sentence hurts my eyes, and pierces my soul. All I can say is really? Where has it gone?
I have traveled on this spinning orb flying around the sun 36 times since I stared into the blue sky of that High School graduation and walked forth into life’s great unknown. I had all the time in the world. Now I can sort of see the light at the end of a very long tunnel.
I imagine my head was spinning in 1981. What would I do with my life? Where would I go? Could I live on my own?
Now? Well, now, I need the coast guard to send up a rescue chopper loaded with frog men to find this diminished sparkling moment from so many ions ago.
I graduated from USC in 1985. My memory of that day is also fleeting, obscured by palm trees and smog and a belly full of beer. 1985 was a time stamp marking a world that was vastly different than the one we presently inhabit. The internet was only a glimmer in Al Gore’s eye. There were no cell phones or computers or 24 hour news cycles. The closest thing to Facebook was the yellow pages and a bag full of quarters for the pay phone.
According to Billboard’s Top 100, in 1985 Wham had the number one song in the world, Careless Whisper, and Madonna was still screeching about what it was like to be a virgin. She was a liar.
I am thinking about graduations because there is a confluence of time and space and big moments ahead. Not only for my kids, but for your kids, and for this nation.
Graduation is a reminder of progress and reward and forward thinking.
What’s old is new again in this swirling vat of cosmically arranged moments.
I turn on the morning news programs and I see those same palm trees and blue sky set against Doheny Library. I see a thousand future graduates, churning in their chairs, excited and nervous and ready to step through a door separating childhood from the rest of what’s to come.
I watch a clip of USC alumni, Will Ferrell giving the commencement address at my alma mater, USC. So many famous and talented people have graduated from this prestigious institution, I think to myself as Ferrell’s graduation performance brings laughter to the thousands in attendance.
“Why Will Ferrell?” he muses aloud.
The answer is why not?
He is funny and poignant and sings Whitney Houston’s ballad; “I will always love you.” The crowd sings along in a life moment that is accentuated by a pulsing exclamation point.
The crowd is throbbing with excitement like a big toe just smashed with a hammer. The moment is real and visceral. What will the class of 2017 remember in 35 years of this moment?
I’m mesmerized by Ferrell’s ability to convey so much through words and facial expressions. He invokes laughter and thought and real life experiences to the throng of young people wearing black high lighted with Cardinal and Gold.
I can barely remember who my commencement speaker was. I have a vision of a stuffy white guy talking in boring sing song sentences about the class of 1985 being the future of the world.
I look back and wonder if we were the future of anything.
All I remember is it was hot. Stifling hot! I was wearing a jet black gown that was like wearing a sweat suit hooked up to a blast furnace. I remember needing a squeegee to wipe the sweat off my forehead. I remember under the gown I was wearing shorts and high tops. I remember climbing on top of Tommy Trojan, joined by my life long friend Adam. My cousin snapped a picture of this moment in time. I am wearing vuarnet sunglasses, staring at the brilliant blue L.A. sky. All around me is Tommy Trojan, his sword raised into the ether leading the charge into the next phase of life.
This picture is now my memory. Is it real, or is it a memory I have because I see this photo nearly every day in my kitchen. It now reminds me of how life is unpredictable. Adam easily jumped up on that statue so many decades ago. Now he is in a wheel chair, unable to do much for himself after a terrible motor cycle accident.
Fight On!
That photo is the single flash of thought; what is the meaning of life?
As I listen to Ferrell, he speaks of being a freshman at USC in 1986. I was graduated but still living on campus. Chances are we strolled by one another at the commons or 9-0 tavern or the Jack in the Box in the hood.
He has gone on to be a big deal in the cosmic vapor of existence. The jury is still out on my accomplishments on this spinning orb.
But I am proud of my 2 children. They are both graduating this year. And in the mighty Yahtzee roll of the dice, fate has decided to make this life moment interesting. Somehow the space time continuum has placed both children’s graduation 16 hours and 2500 miles apart.
I wonder how I will sprint from one graduation in Franklin Tennessee Thursday night and show up at a Navy commissioning ceremony Friday morning in San Diego. It’s going to be memorable as we dash through airports, land at 2 am on the west coast and then rally at 8 am to get to my daughter’s most important moment to date.
As Will Ferrell tells the graduates about throwing darts at life’s dart board, it provides hope.
Before becoming famous, he tells them about eating a meal with spaghetti topped with mustard. “And yes I was afraid. You are never not afraid. I was afraid to write this speech.”
Ferrell’s message to the throng of young adults is powerful and meaningful.
“Enjoy the process of your search without succumbing to the result. Trust your gut. Keep throwing darts at the dartboard. don’t listen to the critics and you will figure it out.”
Then he tells the class of 2017 they would never be alone and to imagine Will Ferrell singing this song gently into their ears.
and he breaks into Whitney Houston’s I will always love you screeching “fight on!”
And perhaps those 2 words are the best words for those of you about to walk through that portal of the rest of your life.
Fight On!
Because you probably won’t have Will Ferrell standing there whispering sweet nothings in your ear when life matters most. So you will need to Fight On!
There will be mystery and indecision and pot holes along the way. You will be forced to make choices, tough choices, life choices.
But if you FIGHT ON, you will be prosperous and the world will always give you a chance to create life moments that are memorable.
Life’s Crazy