Congratulations on your upcoming high school graduation. Your diplomas represent 13 years of mastering skills, stretching yourselves and learning to get along with different people.
Lest you get too puffed up as you don the cap and gown for the trot down the auditorium aisle to collect your diploma, consider this: You have reached only the first stop in life's journey. If you consider yourself a well-rounded person now, you're in for a rude awakening. Make no mistake, a high school diploma is important. You're nowhere without it, but you can't expect that a high school education will equip you for the challenges and rapid changes in technology that lie ahead.
Many of you will go on to higher education, which is a wonderful next step. But statistics tell us that many well-intentioned freshmen don't finish their degrees. While time spent learning on a college campus is its own reward, one cannot proceed to a graduate-level education without a bachelor's degree. Each is its own stepping stone.
Others of you will enter the world of work. There is nothing quite as satisfying as one's first paycheck. A young person who has never worked before will never feel as worthy or as wealthy. But the warm feeling fades as months fade into years at the same place of work. This is not to say that hard work won't be rewarded with increased responsibilities and compensation, but absent any post-secondary education or training, one can remain trapped beneath the educational glass ceiling for a long, long time.
This is not meant to throw a wet blanket on your graduation parade. It's merely a sober dose of reality. If you think about the values and qualities that have made you successful up to this point in life, they are much the same as those that will ensure success the rest of your life. The difference is, the drive and motivation will come solely from you. Unless you're planning to hole up in your parents' basement until you're 26 years old, you will soon have to venture into the cold, cruel world on your own.
As you do, know that not all learning will come from books or well-rehearsed lectures. If you open your ears and your heart to this "other" knowledge, you will be rewarded with many rich experiences. Some will break your heart, but all will make you wiser.
A lot of influences will labor to deter you from your goals. Cling to the values and object lessons imparted by your parents, your spiritual leaders and teachers. Most likely, they have steered you in the right direction all these years. They have a sizable investment in you. They see you as their connection to the future.
Go on, Class of 2000. Celebrate your accomplishments but keep them in perspective. This is an important step, but it's the first of many more to come.