This evening I was back at Charlottesville Catholic School giving the keynote speech at the eighth grade graduation. It was honor to have been invited, to be able to share my dream, to bring a piece of Ghana back with me.
What if?
Life is full of “what if” questions. What is the
first one that comes to your mind?
What if I’m not ready to leave my friends?
What if I don’t fit in at high school?
or
What if I had a super power, what would it be?
Some of our questions are unrealistic, some are our
dreams, some are our hopes for the future but all of them make us wonder; make
us think, about the consequences, about the possibilities, and about the
realities.
The reality right now is that you are leaving this
community, this school, this class, and taking the next step, one step closer
to answering some of your what if questions, others will remain unanswered for
days, weeks, perhaps forever.
But who I am to be talking to you about the next
step? I sat where you are seven years ago listening to my graduation speaker
and wondering what he was talking about. He had all of these points and I
didn’t seem to be processing any of them. So if that’s what’s happening to you,
here’s my one point– dreams can come true.
It’s cheesy, it’s cliché, it’s a phrase you’ve
probably heard a million times but it’s true.
This past semester my dream of going to Africa came
true. From my Catholic School graduation in 2005 to graduation from
Charlottesville High School in 2009 to my college years at Tulane University in
New Orleans, I have kept dreaming. I am now entering my senior year, having
traveled abroad to Ghana in West Africa and am ready to start dreaming again.
My dream of going to Africa started in Kindergarten.
After learning about it one day in class I came home and wanted to know why we
couldn’t take a family vacation there. I’m not quite sure what my initial
attraction to Africa was but something drew me to this mysterious continent.
When I started thinking about studying abroad there was no question in mind
where I wanted to go. So I applied, was accepted into the program and then the
realization sank in.
“Can.”
Your dreams can come true, if you are ready to put in the work, in the time, in
the effort, in whatever it takes to take the next step. Your immediate next
step is high school. And what are your dreams of high school?
Those dreams are affected every day by your actions,
by what you choose to do and what you choose not to do. And that’s what I’m
here to talk to you about. Because even though you all have different feelings
about graduating, about high school, you are all in the same boat. After today
you start making your own choices as a rising high school student. And those
choices may or may not lead you closer to your dreams.
The choices I made throughout high school and
throughout college led me closer to Africa. While I was there I spent time
studying at the University of Ghana and teaching English Comprehension to
fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. But most importantly I began to understand
why I was in Africa, what had drawn me to this place since Kindergarten.
I was laying in bed one night under my mosquito net
in Ghana and started thinking about how I had gotten here, what choices I had
made, what questions I had along the way, and what my next steps were going to
be.
And I realized something in that moment, it all
started here at the Catholic School. In this community, surrounded by God,
surrounded by people that treated one another with respect, that built one
another up instead of tearing one another down that I was able to dream. But
why did I realize it then and not sooner?
Being in Ghana was the first time I felt surrounded
by a community like that again. These were a people that kept God close every
day, who believed there’s a bigger picture, who when questioned about what they
believed never faltered. Every day during my four months there I encountered
God and Jesus either in conversation or in my physical environment. A common
answer to “How are you?” was “Fine by God’s Grace.” The structures where people
sold goods may be named “Prince of Peace Bakery” or “God is Life Electronics.” A
close Ghanaian friend of mine and I frequently talked about religion and he
would always tell me that there was a reason God brought me to Ghana. And my
host mother would tell me not to thank her but to thank God for he is the one
providing for us.
There may be times in the next days, weeks, years
that you start questioning what you believe. Some of you may already have
questions. Ask the questions. Find the deeper meaning in religion. That’s what
I’ve been doing for seven years. And it’s brought me to my dream; it’s brought
me closer to God, and closer to figuring out what I believe.
And what I believe today is that God brings us
closer to our dreams and closer to one another, though we may not ever
understand how it happens. Looking back in my past where my dream began, I see
my Kindergarten friend, Katie and I. Although at first she thought I was a boy
with my short hair we soon became fast friends. We were in elementary school
together, came to the Catholic School together, and finally went to
Charlottesville High School together. However, saying “together” may be
misleading.
In the past few years I have come to learn more
about my friend and her time in middle school then I previously knew. And what
I’ve learned is that not everyone has the same experience. It seems pretty
obvious to say that no one’s experience is the same, but it’s something else to
understand what that means. It took me years to understand that my and Katie’s
time in middle school was vastly different. And that’s why it’s difficult for
me to stand up here before you as an outside speaker, because right now I know
that each of you is having a different experience and I wish I could hear from
each of you what that is. Some of you are probably ready for high school and
others may need this summer to take time to move forward. But instead of being
able to hear those things, I am up here hoping that at the very least you will
spend a few minutes dreaming and sharing with one another your dreams, as I
share mine.
And that you will continue to share with your
friends here what life in high school is like because our friends and families
are the support on the way to our dreams. Your friendships don’t end here, this
I know from experience. Although my friends from middle school and I have taken
different paths, we all sat where you are seven years ago, we all have this shared
experience of graduation and this connection to Charlottesville Catholic School
that will never change.
I am truly honored and undoubtedly blessed to be
standing here before you, that my steps have lead me back to my roots, back
here to Charlottesville Catholic School.
I want to leave you with one last thought.
The other afternoon I sat with a preschool student
who had been removed from playing with his friend because he and his friend
were being disruptive. I told him he had two choices. “You can choose to
misbehave and sit with me while your friends play outside or you can choose to
change your actions and go play with your friends.”
What if you can’t decide what choice to make?
Think about your dreams, about the consequences,
about the possibilities, and what decision will help take you one step closer
to your dream.
