Hurray for all you high school graduates, you did it!
You showed you could keep it together for four years and complete a goal.
Partying with your friends, proms and football games are important, but sticking with it for four years, doing all that homework is the whole point.
We hoped you learned something, but the main idea of graduating is showing you could do it, showing you have what it takes to muddle through and keep going to the end.
It shows you are a winner. All those employers, your family, and you know that you can stick with it. You’re a hero!
The second reason for school is that it makes the world more exciting.
In your science class you learned that the sun shines down and creates chlorophyll to create the color green,and the grass gives us oxygen to breathe.
You know what makes the grass grow,the stars shine and the planets spin.
If you know history, you can see early Polynesians sailing to our shores. You see Vikings and Columbus and a hundred voyagers sailing the blue oceans.
Education makes the world more alive. It lets you see beyond the surface of everything.
Another reason for getting a diploma and a college degree is that it opens doors. One opens to another, and you are off on the adventure of a lifetime.
I have a college degree and it got me great teaching jobs, and all-expense-paid trips to San Francisco and around the world. I found myself in exciting places with interesting people, because of my degree. It’s a key to all the doors.
Of course, you can have a fantastic life without school, you can create your own world. I have created my own jobs and they were great. Learning and accomplishments don’t always need school, only a vision.
Right about now you’re getting pats on the back from everyone. The show is starting and you’re the star.
You have taken off on the wave of your life, I hope you have a perfect ride.
If you ever wipe out, get back your board and paddle out again. There’s always a better wave, and always another ride.
So get going, there’s nothing stopping you now. Always do what you love, and do it with aloha.
Dennis Gregory writes a bi-monthly column for West Hawaii Today and welcomes your comments at makewavess@yahoo.com