I was honored to serve as one of three speakers at LPS San Jose's graduation ceremony yesterday. The ceremony was held on a beautiful summer afternoon at San Jose State University. Several of my Live team members walked the stage that day - congratulations to John Caliva, Meaghan Del Real, Edgar Diego, Alexis Gonzalez, Fernando Ortiz, Hope Pross, Rafael Villa, and a special shout-out to Youssef Shokry, valedictorian of the LPS San Jose Class of 2010!
While it is always a duty of a speaker to present some words of wisdom to the graduating class, I felt especially obligated to share and reiterate some lessons from our time together, so I gathered my thoughts, infused some of my classic material, and produced a short speech about 'blinking' for the graduates. Although the message was written for them, the content works for everyone, so I thought I'd share it with you here too:
Earlier this morning, as my mind stirred, I opened my eyes and blinked awake, as you and I have all done countless times in our lives. It's fascinating how that works, actually. It is said that the average person blinks about 16 times per minute during the time that they are awake. That's roughly once every four seconds.
Each time they close, time slips by me. Every time they open again, the moment that I once knew as "Now" is gone, and the moment that I used to call "Later" is here. In this fashion, our eyes quietly mark the passage of our lives - closing one moment into memory in an instant, and opening to new opportunity in the next.
Yet, as often as my eyelids may flutter, sometimes when I blink, entire sections of my life have flown by me, and on those occasions, I find myself looking back, wondering where that time has gone. It still feels like it hasn't been all that long since I left high school myself, which is most likely compounded by my tendency to behave like a 15-year-old.
On one occasion, I had blinked and found myself teaching here at San Jose State. I was distracted while grading papers, amazed by the suddenness at which life could transform a student into a teacher, and my attention had drifted to a Craigslist ad from some little startup charter school that was looking for teachers. I remember thinking it would be a fun part-time gig.
Then I blinked again, and found myself at the Cowell Houses at Stanford University with a bunch of young, nervous freshmen-to-be, much shorter in stature and with much higher-pitched voices, unsure of themselves and each other, trying to figure out this "LPS thing" and this "high school thing" for themselves.
They had no idea about the fine print on our sign, courtesy of Facebook, which read: "Welcome to our high school, please choose two of the following three options: good grades, adequate sleep, a social life." Judging from the wide awake faces I'm seeing up here on the stage, I can say with confidence: You nerds have done well.
I couldn't begin or presume to explain all that you may have experienced or learned since that time. From my point of view, I just blinked and now we're here. For some of you, it may feel the same way, like it has all gone by so quickly. If not, it will the next time you blink.
What I can say is this: you are not the children that you once were. In the blink of an eye, you are someone else now. Part of you fades away into yesterday every time you close your eyes, while another part remains in the moment to meet the part of you that you are becoming.
In each of those moments, there is opportunity - opportunity to transform yourself a little bit closer towards the person that you would like to become; however, you must decide to embrace the opportunity and then take action to move towards it, for opportunity is not the same thing as choice, and choice is not the same thing as action.
Opportunity presents itself in the blink of an eye and remains for an indeterminate amount of time. It vanishes as quickly as it arrives unless you choose to seize it.
Choices are made in the blink of an eye and change the direction that we face in life, but without action, you aren't going anywhere.
Actions are the vehicles that carry us from blink to blink. They are rooted in our choices. Choices steer the wheel, action powers the engine.
You can dream every night, you can see opportunities, and you can decide to embrace a new direction, but your actions create your destiny. If you blink one moment and find yourself unhappy, you - and only you - have the power to change that.
Change doesn't have to happen slowly. It happens in the blink of an eye.
Just watch today.
Blink in a few moments and you will have crossed the stage and entered a new phase of your life.
Blink again and you may find yourself living in a new place and working to create a new life for yourself.
Blink again and a pair of newborn baby eyes may one day be staring back at you.
But don't blink too quickly, my friends. This isn't a race. We all arrive at the same finish line eventually and at your age, grey hair is overrated. There is no hurry. You will blink, whether you want to or not.
Each time your eyes close, you will slip forward into another time. What was "Now" is quickly becoming "Then". Your future awaits you. Embrace it with your eyes and hearts wide open.
This is not goodbye. If it is our destiny, we will see each other again the next time that we blink.
Until then, choose wisely, my friends, and take action in the direction of your dreams.
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