Dear Class of 2012...
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| Caleb...officially graduated. |
"Good character is more to be praised than outstanding talent. Most talents are to some extent a gift. Good character, by contrast, is not given to us. We have to build it piece by piece by thought, choice, courage, and determination."
John Luther
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| The Seckman Family...graduation night |
Welcome to my son, Caleb...he's guest blogging today. Sort of. He saved his Valedictorian address on my Word program, thereby making it easily accessible for his proud mom to cut, paste, and post to her blog.
Ripped from my hard drive...here is Caleb Seckman's Valedictorian address to Magnolia High School. As you can see, he's a young man who is all about character. Thanks, Caleb, for making Mom's life easy. :-)
Class of 2012, we know where we have been. Many of us
have known each other since we were in kindergarten. We know what we have done. We set new test standards and brought home
state championship trophies in football and track.
Our actions or inactions directly resulted in who we were.
As students, we learned that to have academic success, we had to study; to be
good athletes, we had to train; to excel at band or any other skill; we had to
practice.
We did that well, but it is in
the past. Now, it is time for us to look forward. We are officially adults, and
as adults, we are entering a world that is suffering from difficulties of
historic proportions. As nations war and debts spin out of control across the
globe, it lays a heavy burden upon our generation.
Each and every one of us,
however, is endowed with an ability that will carry us to success if we keep
one key fact in mind. Just as the actions of the child reflected in the
substance of the student...our success in life will be contingent upon our
continued acceptance of accountability.
It is not enough to just be
responsible. We must to be willing to answer for our choices. Make no excuses.
Point no fingers of blame. If we are to succeed, we have to make smart decisions.
We have to work hard; and we have to learn from our mistakes, not hide from
them or justify them away.
Let us enter the world boldly,
and make our mark. Not as the “Entitlement Generation” but as the generation of
real change. Let us abandon the “take care of me attitude” and return to a time
when people passionately heeded the call of President John F. Kennedy to “Ask
not what your country can do for you–
ask what you can do for your
country.” Let us remember the pride of a great nation and become a renewed
nation of leaders and workers who seek solutions over hand outs, and personal
responsibility over scapegoats.
Class of 2012- we have begun a
legacy of achievement, now we must continue that tradition and be the leaders
America needs to move us from a society of victims to victors.
Thank you and God bless.
You should be exceptionally proud. Caleb sounds like a very bright young man!
ReplyDeleteP.S I love your family photo!
Thanks Kyra!
DeleteDear Caleb,
ReplyDeleteYou don't know me from Adam (or Dave) but just wanted to give *you* a shout out and say... THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!
Good on you for offering up such a positive speech and a great challenge to your classmates.
As a dad to three young boys, I can only hope that my lads turn out to be as intelligent and smart as you appear to be.
Good luck in live and go get 'em, kid :)
Good luck in LIFE, I meant...
DeleteDuh, and I'm a "writer" sigh :)
That's why writers get editors. :)
DeleteThanks Mark!
And I'm sure your lads will be wonderful. You're putting them first, exposing them to the half naked ladies at Victoria's...that's how I developed mine!
DeleteWow! How lucky are you to have such a super smart kid who just gets it, you know? Good luck Caleb and Congrats!
ReplyDeleteAw thanks, Cassie. I always tease that he was born old. He's worked hard to raise his mother.
DeleteThis is AMAZING! What a proud mom you must be! Congrats to Caleb and what a fabulous address. Love it!
ReplyDeleteThanks Leigh. And I am so proud of him. Just can't believe how fast the time went.
DeleteGreat speech! I love the "point no fingers of blame." That's a great line.
ReplyDeleteThanks...I'll pass it along to Caleb. And welcome, glad to have you on the blog!
DeleteFantastic speech and a fantastic attitude!
ReplyDeleteHe is a bright boy who is extremely focused.
DeleteThat was a fantastic speech! You raised a very smart boy!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I did it all myself. His dad's job was to look pretty.
DeleteCongratulations to you AND your son. What an accomplishment!
ReplyDeleteThanks Brinda!
DeletePS...
ReplyDeleteCongrats to you too, you made the finals of my photo caption contest :)
Yay me! I will start spending those bragging rights like an American abuses credit!!
Delete