Bearing our Forefathers’ Past (Commencement Address)

Hello, my name is ODubois24 and I am a part of Oak Hill High School’s class of 2024.

I’d like to start this off with: I’ve never done well with public speaking, but, I figure that if some of my fellow graduating peers can one day walk into a busy hospital or a steaming hot workshop and get right to work, I can stand here and give a speech for three minutes.

When I was younger, I was taught responsibility and how to work “smarter, not harder”. When I had something to do, I was taught to do it well and quick so that I would know how to do it again when the time came. I was taught to look after those younger than me and teach them how to do things in this world so they could do it better. So, whenever I was with younger cousins, at family gatherings, or just with someone who was younger than me, and they did something to get me upset, I would run off to the nearest adult and complain: “[Insert random adult name here]! She took my toy and won’t give it back!”, or  “[Adult]! He won’t move!”. And, most of the time, I was met with a response along the lines of: “Well, you’re older, they don’t know any better. Teach them how.”, and that was that. 

Growing up, we are constantly teaching those younger than us and being taught by those older than us. Whether it be by seeing and then doing, reading, or speaking from one another like one giant, ancestral worldwide game of telephone. We teach what we know to those younger and they take what we teach and make it better, make it quicker. And we do the same to what we are taught and we refine it. We, as a people, are constantly changing, teaching, and refining.

We, as a class, are graduating into a pretty hectic climate. With all sorts of changes and differences than what we were taught by our parents, grandparents, and other family members. We are expected to continue to live life as if nothing has changed all that much; to hold the burdens and strifes that those before us held and then contributed to, and those before them and so on and so forth, on our shoulders. Well, I look at these faces I’ve only known for a year and half and hear bits and pieces of their stories, and I am not worried that we will crack under the weight of our forefathers and their forefathers. I can see future nurses saving lives, future teachers sculpting fresh minds, future welders building and perfecting ships, future carpenters making homes for the next generation to prosper in, and, above all, I see a generation prepared to make a difference in our everyday lives, to make the changes we need to make for those after us so that they will not bear our burden, passed onto us by our forefathers that we then added onto before handing it off.

I see leaders, I see game changers, I see people who will and can make a difference. And I look forward to seeing what we do from here, because here? Here is only the start to the rest of our lives.

“Graduation caps” by JMaz Photo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.