Commencement – what is it really about?

We celebrate births and birthdays, weddings and anniversaries, ribbon-cuttings and building dedications.

And graduations.

What do they all have in common?

Not so much what The Day itself means but for what brought it about.

The Day is a marker, a memorial, a reason to recall the rigors that make the day possible.

And what are those?

Dogged determination, dedication, disciplined mind and body to obtain what we have, to reach where we are, to stand in celebration.

And after the tassel is moved, the toast is given, the gifts are opened, and all the many pictures are shared, what then?

In perhaps the longest soliloquy of a dedication address in history (the celebration lasted an entire week) this particular king in his ‘the King’s Speech’ concludes with these four words: “as at this day.”

The same wherewithal, that enabled you all, to get here at all, he said, is “as at this day” still required.

No resting upon your laurels.

Not self-satisfied as if to do nothing more.

No standing still.

So far, you’ve simply written the prologue to your story.

Which is to say, when ever asked the question in the years that follow: “What is your greatest accomplishment?”

Answer, “The next.”