There's No Place Like Home

GRADUATION COMMUNITY SERVICE
GIBBON HIGH SCHOOL, 2008

Well, first let me say that I am very honored
to be asked to speak to you today
This is kind of big day for you!
As I thought this week about what I could say to you
on this the occasion of your high school graduation
I thought of a lot of things
First of all, I wanted to say something that would keep your attention
I didn’t want you dozing off on me
I only get to do this once
so pay attention
I also didn’t want to say stuff that you might expect me to say
stuff like, “you are our future,”
or “don’t be afraid to dream,”
or “your future is wide open”
yada yada yada
I mean, not that that’s not good stuff
it is
it’s just a bit too cliché for me
Also, it occurred to me, though I might not want to dwell on this,
that next month is the 25th anniversary
of my own graduation from high school
So in other words, to you I must seem ancient
and so, what can an old lady more than twice your age
have to tell you of any significance?
If nothing else, I am here to tell you
you will survive
There is life after high school
I also started to wonder
why we make you wear those ridiculous looking hats
I mean, sure, we’ve all done it
but do you realize how silly you look?
So I looked up cap and gown on the internet
to see if I could find out
whose fault it is that we have to wear those
silly little square hats that never fit right
and had to be attached with bobbie pins
as if they weren’t embarrassing enough
at least, it looks like, they’ve finally figured out
that elastic is a good thing
how long did THAT take?
Anyway, I digress
I looked it up and of course, that hat you’re wearing
is usually called a mortarboard
So, I looked up mortarboard on Dictionary.com
(Let me just say that I didn’t have the luxury of the internet
when I was in high school….)
Anyway, Dictionary.com says that a mortarboard is
#1 a square board with a handle used for holding
and carrying masonry mortar
Ok
Or, of course, it is #2, The square academic cap,
sometimes called a mortarboard
because of its similarity in appearance to the
mortarboard used by masons.
Feels kind of silly, doesn’t it?
You’re walking around with a board on your head
that is fashioned after the board masons use
to fasten bricks together….
Which is just another illustration
that even the most solemn of occasions
the most serious and important occasions
are still an occasion to laugh at absurdity
I learned that in the 25 years
since I graduated high school
that it’s very, very important
to laugh at yourself
and even more important to do so
at the most solemn occasions in your life
Because otherwise you might take yourself too seriously
and that’s not good
Twenty five years ago, I was scared to death
I kept thinking everything would be better…. WHEN
When I graduated from high school
when I graduated from college
when I found the love of my life
when I got my first real job
everything would be better WHEN
But whenever those things came along
there was always more …
more that was needed
the time never came
when everything would be completely alright
I wore that silly mortarboard on my head
and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life
Not a clue
and people kept asking me what I was going to do
as if one can know such lofty things at 17 or 18
Maybe you have some idea, and that’s good
but it’s ok if you don’t
you’ve got a lot of time to figure that out
You’ve worked hard to get here
you’ve done a lot of extra things
either because you like them
or because it’ll look good on your resume
or both
you’ve learned to fill up as much of your time
as possible just like all the anxiety-ridden adults
in your world

Brad Paisley has a song called “A Letter to Me”
in which he’s writing a letter to his 17 year old self
trying to tell himself at that age
what all he’s learned
I wish I could do that
I would tell myself to lighten up
to not take myself so seriously
to not take life so seriously
To learn how to play and enjoy myself
without hurting myself or anyone else
but to be sure and have fun
To work hard, remembering that life is not all about work
That life is not meant to be a burden to carry
life is a gift from God
a gift to savor, to share, to enjoy
and to use well
A lot of people live their lives like it’s a burden
When I was 18, I did that
I didn’t know that life was a gift from God
that it was a gift of responsibility
and a gift of joy --equally
So I would say to you, stay balanced
Have enough joy in your life to be truly living
and yet take life seriously enough
to be responsible, to make wise decisions
and to remember that it’s not all about you
You, I hate to tell you, are not the center of the universe
the world does not revolve around you
But you are given a part to play
in this beautiful world that is always changing and growing
You have been given gifts to share with the world
that the world needs
You don’t have to be like someone else
you just have to be you
and to do that as honestly and beautifully as you can
Think of others when you make choices
think of how it affects other people or the rest of the world
or think about what your life says to those younger than you
who are watching you
But most importantly,
remember that you are enough
God has given you everything you need
to live this life
You are not today who you will be 5 years from now
you will grow, you will learn, you will change
but the core of who you are will stay the same

Our family really likes to take road trips
we enjoy the traveling as much as getting to the destination
Getting there is only part of the fun
and when it’s time to leave
we know we still have the fun
of the journey home
The journey you’ve been on to this point
is just the beginning
ok, that sounds cliché, I admit, but it’s true
The first 18 years has given you a foundation of who you are
you will play around with that
you’ll pinch the clay here, add a little color there
maybe dye your hair various colors
in the coming years
you’ll try something new
you’ll meet new people
some of whom you’ll want to hold onto forever
and others you’ll be eager to say goodbye to
You will try
and you will fail sometimes
and that’s ok
Your heart will break, and it will be healed again
Whatever you do after high school,
it will be new
people out there won’t know
what we know about you
they won’t know that you’re great at basketball or volleyball
or you’re a great writer or singer
or you had girls falling all over themselves
just to talk to you in the hallway
They won’t know if you were at the top of your class
or if you felt like the dork of the century
wherever you go from here
it will be new
a blank book for you to write the rest of your story
It’s not a new book
but it’s a sequel to the story that’s been written
these first 18 years
Some of it you wish you could burn, maybe
or tear up
somehow forget
but everything that’s been written before now
is a part of who you are, for better or worse
and that is what you will take with you
as you continue to write the story

Fredrick Buechner is an old guy
but he’s one of my favorite writers
and in one of my favorite books
he talks about the Wizard of Oz
Yea, no kidding…
You know the story, we all know the story
Dorothy is a girl living on the prairies of Kansas
wishing she were somewhere else
more exciting
somewhere over the rainbow
because it would have to be really far
from Kansas to be interesting at all
Then she’s scooped up in a cyclone
and carried off to a really weird place
with little people who have funny voices
She’s told that the only person who can help her get home
is the great wizard of Oz
but she’ll have to journey to see him
Along that journey
she meets some weird characters
A talking scarecrow who dreams of having a brain
a tin man who only wants a heart
and a cowardly lion who only wants
to not be so afraid anymore
Well, they have quite the adventures along the road
with one another
as they pursue their dreams and deepest desires
And when they meet the great Wizard of Oz,
they are horribly disappointed
because it turns out that he’s just a little old man
behind a curtain
a little old man from Omaha, Nebraska, mind you
But as they talk with the nervous, odd little man
they realize some things that they need to know
Looking back on their journey to Oz
they realize, that whenever they got into a crisis
it was the smarts of the brainless scarecrow
that got them out
or when things went horribly wrong,
the heartless tin man was no big help at first
because he’d get so choked up with feeling
and sorrow for others
that he’d cry and make himself rust
And they realized, too
that when they were really scared
and when they faced down horrible creatures
it was the cowardly lion who stepped forward
willing to stand up for them all
So the puny little so-called wizard,
who really was no wizard at all,
but just a little old man from Omaha—
this man tells them that they all had everything they needed
that each of them already had what they traveled so far to find
but the only way they could have learned that
was to make the journey
that was sometimes dark, sometimes fun,
sometimes very scary and dangerous
and yet brought them where they needed to be

Even Dorothy had what she needed to get back home
the slippers on her feet
she just had to make the journey
in order to realize that there’s no place like home
a place called Kansas
a place where the skies were sometimes dark
and sometimes there were vicious storms
that threatened their lives
but it was still home

They learned that things like a brain, a heart and courage
are never posessed as gifts
but are always gifts that are earned and gained
by living and loving and staying on the road

You are enough
You have everything inside of you that you need
to live
We’re all on the way, none of us have arrived yet
even though some of us are 25 years or so
ahead of you on the road
You may learn things I haven’t learned yet
you may see things and experience things
that I never have
because each of us are given our own journey to travel
and we’re given the companions we need
to help us get there
You are given a life as a gift from God
and right now, you are standing on the edge of a new thing
sure, you’ll make mistakes
sure, you’ll look like a fool sometimes


The world doesn’t revolve around you
but the world is waiting for you to contribute your gifts
to make a difference

I like Garth Brooks
and he wrote a song called The Change
and in it he sings about how he wants to make a difference
but when he tries, it doesn’t seem to do all that much
you save one person,
there are countless others who need saving
you feed one child
there are millions of others who are starving
and he says,
“I hear them saying, you’ll never change things
and no matter what you do
it’s still the same thing
but it’s not the world that I am changing
I do this so the world will know
it will not change me…”

There are things that you’re going to want to try
just to feel grown up
there are a lot of forces out there
that will try to tell you what to think, what to feel
and what to believe
Don’t forget where you’ve come from
the story of your life so far
because you will take it with you
you will alter it, tweek it,
change a paragraph here and there
and steer the plot in a whole new direction
but don’t forget who you are
and where you’ve come from
Find your own verse to contribute to the Great Song
the Song of Creation that God has begun in you
You already have everything you need
to be the person God created you to be
stay open to God’s beautiful creativity
keep a good sense of humor
don’t take yourself too seriously
work hard,
think of others
but remember to have fun
Remember that life is a gift
handle it with care
And know that wherever you go, whatever you do
God’s loving arms are always around you…

Thank you.