Let me begin by congratulating all of you on your
achievement. Most of you have arrived at
this moment along a non-traditional path, often after a number of false starts,
and over far more than the usual number of years. All of you have been frustrated—right? All of you have felt guilty about the time
your studies took from your other responsibilities—am I right? And all of you have worried about whether you
were good enough? All of this is a way
of saying that you are second chance learners.
I have been coming to graduations at Charter Oak for 15
years, and I am always struck by two things: first, they are incredibly
noisy…and second, they are incredibly happy. Both are true for the same reason—our
graduates are surrounded by their families, and those families are here to celebrate.
So as I prepared for this year’s ceremony, I asked myself
what it is that makes these graduations so joyful and such a wonderful family
moment. Remember, most of our graduates
are grownups who have sat in the audience cheering on their kids, or even their
grandkids, at similar events. So why are
they sitting here being celebrated by their children, their grandchildren, and their
spouses?
I think I can answer that.
The graduating classes of 2012 are all heroes.
No, you are not heroes because you have risked your lives
for others. That is the heroism of our
soldiers, firefighters and police officers.
But you are heroes because like Hercules with his 12 Labors, you have
done a hard thing, an important thing, a good thing, an expensive thing, and
you have done it for the right reasons.
First, the reasons: Charter Oak grads are here because they
decided to finish their degree. They
started something, it got interrupted, and they were determined to make that
dream come true. We live in an age where
such quiet quests are not celebrated.
Instead, we celebrate overnight sensations, teenage millionaires, American
idols, reality TV survivors, and stupid pet tricks. But what we are here to celebrate today is a
group of people who made a commitment to their education, and stuck to that
goal through family emergencies, computer problems, financial setbacks, and bad
weather.
You are heroic because you refused to give up, refused to
quit, refused to quietly abandon your dream.
Like Odysseus, you may have taken a long time, but today you have made
it home.
You are also heroes because you are examples. You persevered, and all those around you
watched you do it. Your family saw you
at the kitchen table reading articles, typing submissions to a thread, taking a
timed test, and reading articles on Wikipedia. That homework often occurred during
late nights after the family went to bed or early in the morning and even on holidays;
but through it all your family was watching.
And they are proud of you. Am I right?
So how do I know that you are heroes? I see it in your children’s proud
glances. I see it in your spouse,
carrying a bouquet of flowers. I hear it in the laughter all around us today. I even watched one of you at my own kitchen
table. You have provided your family with an example, with a clear picture of
what a person can achieve if they are willing to roll up their sleeves and do
the work. You have shown your loved ones
that it is never too late to finish what you start. And you have shown them that achievement is
not about perfection or easy success; it is about perseverance, struggle, and
the refusal to surrender.
As Bruce Springsteen so powerfully sings …No retreat, no
surrender. That attitude sums you up.
And for me, that makes you all my heroes.
Congratulations.