Healing the World 

To start off, I want to share a poem that had a big impact on my life and hopefully it can have the same meaningful effect on you:

 “If you measure
the length
of your ego,
it will equal
the distance
between you
and your freedom.
If you
are far away
from yourself,
how could
you ever be
close to another?”
― Yung Pueblo, Inward

Hello fellow graduates, I am DMcFarland. You may have seen me on stage acting, in the choir, or even on Facebook where my mother posts way too many pictures of me… It is an honor to stand among the Class of 2024. As a group of students, we have ventured through the incredible challenges of Covid-19. We had to navigate high school wearing masks and dealing with Google Meets as freshmen. Face masks became a daily norm for us. I don’t mention this as a setback; rather, I see it as a hardship that pushed us to be better and molded us to be more resilient. Covid-19 will be a story that we tell friends and family around the dinner table years from now.

While we have spent most of our time looking to the future, hoping for the better, take a moment to look back and see the good that we experienced. Reflecting on the shared journey we all experienced, there we were, walking into a new school, seeing strange faces of teachers and mentors. The faces we encountered would guide us to become who we are today. We shared thoughts of conviction and gathered knowledge that would prepare us for the real world. For me, the first teacher that truly made an impact on me was Ms. Stubbs. As a freshman, I hated and despised reading books, but it only took that one teacher to teach me the beauty of finding the right book. With her encouragement, I found what is now my favorite book, They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera. Funny enough, the title isn’t lying—the book is about two boys who, in the beginning, get a phone call from Death-Cast, informing them that they have 24 hours to live. With heartfelt encouragement, Death-Cast says, “Live your last day to the fullest.” However, this isn’t just about what impact a teacher had on me. I want everyone to reflect on the impact that a teacher had on them. Everyone has experienced that transformative moment where a teacher changed your life, the person that showed us how to grow and appreciate what we once resisted. You could have a teacher show you the importance of Membean or the Importance of taking notes. No matter what it is the teacher did for you, it changed your life somehow. 

Now it is our job to take what we have learned and heal the world, taking that first step forward with courage. In They Both Die at the End, we follow the story of the two protagonists, Rufus and Mateo, who take a whole day one step at a time. Even with the knowledge that the boys had they didn’t let their fate define them. Rufus’s words, “I cross the street without an arm to hold me back,” this seems ironic because it is the last sentence in the book, and he ends up dying, but over time, I have learned to appreciate the profound beauty in this sentiment. Even with the certainty of his death, Rufus takes that step forward fearlessly, unbothered by what couldn’t change. These are the life lessons that I have picked up from just a teacher encouraging me to read. Where else would I see a story where two boys are forced to live one whole day knowing that at any moment they could die?

For me, English class has been where I learned some of the best life lessons, just like the story by Adam Silvera. In English class, we read stories of resilience and wrote essays that reflect our views of the world. One of the most impactful lessons was the “I Believe” essays. I wrote an essay titled “You Can’t Always Drive the Car.” It addressed the hardship that we go through and the way that the world just throws things in our way, and guess what? You can’t fix it. We must accept that some things are beyond our control. For me, this hit home. I felt bad for my grandfather, a man whose pain I wished I could take away, but I could only learn to navigate what was in front of me.

Bringing everything together, let’s revisit the quote I started with: 

“If you measure
the length
of your ego,
it will equal
the distance
between you
and your freedom.
If you
are far away
from yourself,
how could
you ever be
close to another?”
― Yung Pueblo, Inward

Reading Yung Pueblo’s books, I learned and taught myself the power of healing the world. It all starts with just healing yourself. Many quotes and poems from the book Inward emphasize how personal healing can ripple outwards, impacting the world around us. My favorite story from the book involves a girl in a mountain village that seemed serene but was plagued by hellish rain. She ventured to the mountain’s peak to seek peace within herself, and miraculously, the village began to experience tranquility again. Her inner peace influenced her surroundings, showing that personal healing can lead to broader change. 

In This Spirit we stand on the brink of our futures, the last thing I want to leave with the fellow graduates of 2024 is this: The world won’t apologize for the challenges it throws our way, and no one can help us if we aren’t willing to help ourselves. By taking the time to heal yourself, we can collectively make a difference in the lives around us, even transforming the little mountain village. As Clu from Tron said, “Out there is a new world! Out there is our victory! Out there is our destiny!”

Featured Image: “Leaning Tower of Books” by Dmcfarland24