Last Time for Everything
Accomplishments are always a reason to
celebrate, and few occasions are quite as
significant as high school graduation. The most
important thing you hear when you graduate
will be: your name. The least important message
you hear will be delivered by the graduation
speaker. If the speaker is smart, he or she
will keep the message brief and challenge
graduates to find their passions, define and
chase success, and be ready for the real world.
Recognize your talent or passion. Benjamin
Disraeli, a 19th century British Prime Minister,
once said, “Man is only great when he acts from
passion.” It is important to realize that you can
do what you love with your life. Passion is your
GPS system for life. Your life does not belong
to your parents, your teachers, or your political
leaders. You will have to be realistic in deciding
if you can turn your passion into the career or
lifestyle you want to live, and decide how to
make that happen. There is no playbook for
your life, except to live it to the fullest every
day. I use a guidebook called the Bible to help
me. The truth is that your passion will change. I
love to write, but in high school I did not have
that passion. Therefore expand your horizons
and your passion may grow or change. It will
take courage to grow into that which you have
the capacity to become.
Don’t buy society’s definition of success.
Before you can achieve success, you will have
to define what success means to you. In his
book Born to Win!, Zig Ziglar, an expert on
success, motivation, and leading a balanced
life, contends that success cannot be defined
in one sentence, but instead it is comprised of
many things. He said: “One could argue that
the definition depends on the individual and
one size does not fit all.” Success is not the
opposite of failure. In fact, learning from failure
is part of the key to success. Wealth, prosperity
and fame do not define success. Colin Powell