Congratulations and I'm Sorry
The air this week is full of the excitement of graduation day. I could almost feel it today as I picked up students from two high schools. My Facebook feed was buzzing with photos and speeches from my Alumni page at Algonquin College in Ottawa. My youngest grandson won a bunch of awards the other night for his extraordinary achievements in sports at high school and he’s off on a great adventure. (Congrats #LeoWardell).
It was 50 years ago that I walked that stage and recieved the College’s President’s Rosser Medalion. The world was my oyster and I was sure that I had great things ahead. My generation was going to bring peace to the world. I’m not sure what happened to us but we blew it and I’m so sorry.
The looks on the faces of the graduates I’ve seen on social media this week hold that same sort of hope. They think they have the world by the tail, and they do in theory. The problem is that they too may get distracted by life and many of their dreams will fade and vanish in the smog of broken hearts and the brutal reality of having to make a living.
There are a few of those hopefuls who will go on to be world changes. A few will try their hand at politics and law. A few will get great opportunity in science and industry and a handful will make big changes to the world. Today they think they all will and good for them. I hope they do. I hope they don’t get lost in the mire of life. I hope their dreams and visions become reality. I know though, that those lofty dreams will often become just living the best way they can. I know 50 years later that life isn’t always fair or just. There are tragedies and trials we could not imagine in our youth.
I also know that while my view of life and lofty hope is very different now, I still believe life can be better and I still have hope in the human spirit for good. The difference now is, I realize the biggest and most important things we can do in this life are not always the ones
that get medallians. The things which truly change the world are the little things we do each day; the smile we give someone who is hurting, the hand we take gently when someone is struggling, the small donation we make to a worthy cause, the time we offer to a friend who needs to be heard.
They may never be Prime Minsiter but they can all be ministers of hope.