Houston Blog
My blog from Houston, Texas. Updated most weeks, usually on Sundays.
After almost a year living in the US, I have learned that there are many curious twists of terminology to which a newcomer must adapt. Not only do elephants have trunks, but so do cars, although unlike elephants, cars have their trunks at the rear end. (I suppose that Americans coming to Australia would be equally confused when they try to locate a car’s “boot”). In America, there are elevators rather than lifts, sidewalks rather than footpaths, sweaters rather than jumpers, sofas rather than lounge suites, and restrooms rather than … well, in Australia there are hundreds of different names for restrooms, all of which are considerably more literal and often more onomatopoeic than the polite American term.
However, as Head of a School, one of more puzzling terms I came across recently was “Commencement Exercises”. Commencement Exercises are how students FINISH their schooling – it is another term for a graduation ceremony. When I asked why a graduation ceremony might be termed ‘commencement exercises’, I was told (after a little thinking time) that the ceremony represents the ‘commencement’ of the rest of the students’ lives.
Fair enough, I suppose.
Our distinguished guest, Dr David Leebron.
Chairman of the Awty International School Board, Mr Jamal Daniel,
Members of the Board, parents, guests, faculty and staff, and young men and women, soon-to-be graduates of the Awty International School,
It is my honor and privilege to welcome you here this morning to this graduation ceremony – the successful end point of schooling for the students who will graduate this morning. I would like to direct my remarks to the students who will graduate, but the good news is that nothing I am about to say is a secret, so parents and friends are welcome to listen too.
Graduating students – Taking up the theme that I shared with you over dinner last night, the time has come this morning when you begin the journey onwards into the next stage of your lives. Life is a journey, and no-one has ever said it would be easy. Just like driving along every freeway in Houston, the journey through life is full of hazards, scares, and mysteries even when you think you have everything sorted. But as you embark on this journey of life, never forget that you are journeying with companions. It is very clear to me that you have made many very dear friends for life here at Awty. I have already noticed the way that you look out for one another and support each other, so please never take that for granted and never lose it.
I would like to leave you with a challenge to think about this morning – after all, it’s the job description of Heads of Schools to give their students challenges. And it is this – barring illnesses and accidents, life is around 600,000 hours long for men, 700,000 hours for women. At first, this might seem like an incredibly long period of time. Some bits of life, indeed, verge on the eternal. I am thinking here of time spent in boring meetings or having dull conversations or being stuck at events that, even though the clock suggests they are brief, seem to stretch beyond the horizon.
Half a million hours: of that, you’ll spend a third asleep (or maybe a bit less than a third if what I hear about many of you is true!). Anyway, given the increase in early onset dementia, interestingly caused in part by inadequate sleep during teenage years they now think, you may well lose thousands more hours of your life in a mindless daze, having entirely lost the plot. You’ll lose even more washing dishes, dragging trash cans out to the street and back again and going shopping.
Anyway, you get the point. You finish up having, at best, a few thousand truly meaningful hours in your life. So, please, don’t waste them doing things that don’t matter, like staring blankly at television or computer screens. If you must stare blankly at something, I suggest brief glimpses the mirror. That will serve to remind you of who you are, of the brevity of life and how you’d better get on and not waste it.
Breathe it in. Gobble it up. Smell it, touch it, appreciate it and savor this life for the fantastic experience that it is. Live it to the full. But on the other hand, don’t be too serious about it. Some of your best times here at school have been when you were being immature (and you all know that I don’t mean back when you were Middle School!). In the years to come, when you see each other again at reunions, as I hope you will, my guess is that it will be the fun times that you remember and talk about. It will be the times you were mucking about with friends, having a laugh somewhere when you should have been in class, or breaking this or that rule or regulation. These are the things you will miss, and I suspect that these incidents will provide the bases of many embellished stories in the years ahead. Treasure those memories. And in the years to come, if you insist on wasting time, and you probably will, at least waste time consciously. Think about the time you’re wasting. Then return to whatever it is you do or want to do, replenished and reinvigorated.
We live in challenging times, but the world has always been a challenging place. If you follow current events, you know that today’s headlines are a repeat of those in 430 BC – Greece is collapsing, Iran is getting more aggressive and Rome is in disarray. 430 BC, or 2012 AD, you need all the emotional insurance you can get, because we are living in dangerous times, when risks are greater, weapons deadlier and, by and large, governments more insane. That is why the relationships you developed here at school and which you will develop in the years ahead will be more important than ever – they will give you an anchor of stability in a world of change. And given the state of the world, it would be good if you spent some of your time making a difference – helping to improve both the political and physical environment. At worst it will be mildly therapeutic, and hopefully it will mean you are repaying giving back to humanity some of the things you have learned and gained by being part of this school.
So then, go from this place as men and women for others – but also as men and women of influence. Energize our world, even if it means simply that you touch those around you with the hand of friendship. Live like this, and you will never be bored. Be men and women for others, and you will bear fruit, bountiful beyond measure.
Life is short? Yes. Make it long by living it to the full. Retain your idealism and optimism, because becoming old has less to do with how many years you have lived, and more to do with whether you still have retained your optimism, your idealism and your sense of humor. Have wonderful lives. And that is my farewell advice for you!
Please keep in touch, and if you get a chance, send me some e-mails from time to time to let me know how you are going.
My 2012 Commencement Speech
Sunday, 3 June 2012
We were delighted to receive two significant gifts this week that will move us forward significantly towards being able to start the next phase of our building plans. Thank you to Mr Patrick Schorn (shown at the right of this photo) who presented a pledge for $2 million on behalf of Schlumberger, and thank you to Dr Zin Smati (shown at the front left of this photo) who presented a pledge for $750,000 on behalf of GDF-Suez. Awty is very grateful to you both!