Congrats Graduates!
pingg Graduation Caps Invite
On behalf of pingg, I would like to say congratulations to everyone who graduated from high school, college, graduate school, or any other form of education. The parents and guardians who are responsible for those who graduated deserve a round of applause as well.
I recall last year around this time when I was sitting in a football stadium, listening to the commencement speaker, and all of a sudden the reality hit me that I was about to graduate college. I can tell you now, that it isn’t as scary as it seams to graduate from college, high school, etc. Rather it is something that should be celebrated and enjoyed.
It doesn’t matter if you’re going to college, making the leap to graduate school, or heading into that scary place known as the “real world.” When you graduate, for a brief period of time there are no tests, no lectures, and no need for stress. Take the liberty, for a few weeks to have as much fun as possible. Participate in sing-along after sing-along of Green Day’s “Time of Your Life” and Vitamin C’s “Graduation Song.” Make sure to go to as many of your friend’s graduation parties as possible and feel free to beg your parents for your own because frankly, you’ve earned it. So, make sure you throw your caps in the air, thank your teachers, hug your families and friends, and celebrate because graduations are moments that need to be rejoiced.
- J.P.
Oh wait I almost forgot. For the recent graduates, I would like to share my favorite poem with you. I think you will be able to relate to it and hopefully take it to heart…
The Station
by Robert J. Hastings
Tucked away in our subconscious minds is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long, long trip that almost spans the continent. We’re traveling by passenger train, and out the windows we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hills, of biting winter and blazing summer and cavorting spring and docile fall.
But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour we will pull into the station. There will be bands playing, and flags waving. And once we get there so many wonderful dreams will come true. So many wishes will be fulfilled and so many pieces of our lives finally will be neatly fitted together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering … waiting, waiting, waiting, for the station.
However, sooner or later we must realize there is no one station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.
“When we reach the station, that will be it!” we cry. Translated it means, “When I’m 18, that will be it! When I buy a new 450 SL Mercedes Benz, that will be it! When I put the last kid through college, that will be it! When I have paid off the mortgage, that will be it! When I win a promotion, that will be it! When I reach the age of retirement, that will be it! I shall live happily ever after!”
Unfortunately, once we get it, then it disappears. The station somehow hides itself at the end of an endless track.
“Relish the moment” is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” It isn’t the burdens of today that drive men mad. Rather, it is regret over yesterday or fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who would rob us of today.
So, stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot oftener, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more and cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough.
