In graduation ceremonies at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Kyle Schiller encouraged his classmates to stay present in the moment even as they face the ‘real world.’ Following is an excerpt from his speech.
T
onight we gather in ritual celebration just to make it absolutely clear that the class of 2013 is done with high school… just to make sure no one shows up for school on Monday. Most of us can agree that the legal definition of adulthood is arbitrary. Tere’s no real reason to base it on rotations of the earth
around the sun, and of course, no day can turn a minor into an adult, and no single class period can turn a student into a graduate, but with the help of birthday candles and graduation ceremonies we are given the power to transform ourselves overnight. It’s clear that we will soon cease to be high school students, but the term “graduate” is actually a pretty horrible descriptor. It refers only to a past event, in this case the end of our high school careers, with no mention of what happens next. If you’ve ever done something bad without suffering from serious repercussions, an adult has probably told you something along the lines of
“you won’t be able to do that kind of thing in the real world.” And for some of us, the real world starts tomorrow, for some it’ll start in college, or when we get our first job. Te point being that the line between whatever we’re currently in and the “real world” is subject to the same scrutiny as the line between minor and adult. Te fact that those lines are arbitrary doesn’t make them any less important. And I am reluctant to tell you that in the real world everything will turn out for the best, because I can’t make any promises. One night while stumbling through the school
library in the middle of the night, an activity you should all look forward to in college, Harry Potter discovers the Mirror of Erised, and looking into it sees himself reunited with lost parents. Dumbledore walks in and explains that the mirror shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge nor truth.
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. Te mirror shows a perfect image, one complete with your heart’s strongest wishes, but no matter how wonderful, the image remains nothing more than a reflection, shielded by cold glass. Whether you’re worrying about the future or looking forward to it, you’re living somewhere other than the present, and that’s never good. You’re at a high school graduation. You’re sitting in this fancy cathedral thinking about how beautiful everything is, and how strange it is to have a podium shaped like an eagle, and how this boy seems to just be droning on and on and on about God knows what, and as your mind starts to wander further and further away, you
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Kyle Schiller ’13
A boy lies on a grassy field staring up at the sea of stars wishing over and over again that he could go to space, and for just a moment the universe converges to whisper in his ear that the Earth, too, exists in space. And so the boy stands up, and with eyes still drawn open in awe he says, ‘I’m already there.’ —Kyle Schiller
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pull yourself back, remembering how important this moment is to your loved ones. So you come back to reality for a moment, thinking perhaps that moments like this one really ought to be paid attention to. And so, just for a moment, you find yourself fully immersed in the present. My request is that you remember that feeling and hold onto it. Because it’s not just important moments that deserved to be experienced, it’s every moment, no matter how routine or ordinary. Meaningful events don’t create awareness: awareness makes events meaningful.
LEARN MORE:
www.oes.edu/ magazine
• Complete text and videos of Mo’s and Kyle’s speeches
• Video of 8th grade speaker
• Photo gallery
Summer 2013 25
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