Last night was my oldest sons high school graduation night. I’m sure many of you have experienced a high school, graduation and are thinking “ Yeah, been there, done that”, but for a first timer, I just want to share with all of you some of my thoughts.
Ryan (that is his real name) was not what I would call the most ambitious student, he struggled through high school, not because he was dumb, but I believe because he wasn’t challenged. Every time he was challenged, he would do what it took to succeed, and I will use the word succeed loosely here, because for Ryan success was a final mark of 66% when his mid term mark was 48%. And that’s what I’ve learned from my son, it’s not what societies definition of success is, that matters in life, it’s what your personal definition of success in life is that matters.
You only go around this great big wonderful world once, and what life boils down to is this, Is/Was it a happy experience or Is/Was it a sad experience.
That’s it in a nutshell.
And I watched my son Ryan during the Grad ceremonies and later on during the Grad party, and maybe it’s just a proud and happy father talking here, but I would swear that kid was the happiest kid in the class.
He actually won an award for the highest mark in one of his classes. Others expect awards, others count on them, but this was a bolt out of the blue to him and me both. But that isn’t why I think he was the happiest kid. It’s because he was so comfortable in who he was at that moment that made him happy. He knew he wasn’t the class scholar, nor the class jock, nor the prom king, but he knew he was the best friend he could be to his classmates and he knew they loved him and that he loved them. And that was Ryan’s success.
Last night was a night to celebrate the ending of the first chapter of his life and as I watched my son, I saw and heard him contemplate the next chapter of his life with spirit and enthusiasm, and I was a proud dad.
I’m not sure whether he’s a farmer or not, he’ll figure that out over the next few years. There are no expectations on this end. My only advice to Ryan was that life can be a pretty long and dreadful experience if you’re doing something that you don’t have a passion for. But if you spend your life doing something you have passion for and enjoy doing, life can be the greatest adventure you can imagine.
Congratulations Ryan,
Live life Large
Ryan (that is his real name) was not what I would call the most ambitious student, he struggled through high school, not because he was dumb, but I believe because he wasn’t challenged. Every time he was challenged, he would do what it took to succeed, and I will use the word succeed loosely here, because for Ryan success was a final mark of 66% when his mid term mark was 48%. And that’s what I’ve learned from my son, it’s not what societies definition of success is, that matters in life, it’s what your personal definition of success in life is that matters.
You only go around this great big wonderful world once, and what life boils down to is this, Is/Was it a happy experience or Is/Was it a sad experience.
That’s it in a nutshell.
And I watched my son Ryan during the Grad ceremonies and later on during the Grad party, and maybe it’s just a proud and happy father talking here, but I would swear that kid was the happiest kid in the class.
He actually won an award for the highest mark in one of his classes. Others expect awards, others count on them, but this was a bolt out of the blue to him and me both. But that isn’t why I think he was the happiest kid. It’s because he was so comfortable in who he was at that moment that made him happy. He knew he wasn’t the class scholar, nor the class jock, nor the prom king, but he knew he was the best friend he could be to his classmates and he knew they loved him and that he loved them. And that was Ryan’s success.
Last night was a night to celebrate the ending of the first chapter of his life and as I watched my son, I saw and heard him contemplate the next chapter of his life with spirit and enthusiasm, and I was a proud dad.
I’m not sure whether he’s a farmer or not, he’ll figure that out over the next few years. There are no expectations on this end. My only advice to Ryan was that life can be a pretty long and dreadful experience if you’re doing something that you don’t have a passion for. But if you spend your life doing something you have passion for and enjoy doing, life can be the greatest adventure you can imagine.
Congratulations Ryan,
Live life Large
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