By Danny King, Headliner Columnist, June 1, 2022
The legendary warrior-poet Geddy Lee once said that “no changes are permanent, but change is.” If there is anything in life that can be counted on, it is that nothing will ever stay the same as it was.
In my experience there are two types of people graduating high school right now; those that are telling themselves not to cry because it is over but smile because it happened and those saying don’t cry because it happened smile because it is over.
To the former, I say cherish these moments but refuse to be a slave to them. Look at them for what they are a great time in life that has paved the way for who you are going to become. Too much time has been spent by too many people wondering what it would be like to go back and relive the times of the past. While these times were good, they are never as good as you remember them being.
Nostalgia is a dangerous emotion that can take away a regrettable amount of your life. The next time you wish you could do it all over again just remember the time in PE class that you were doing sit-ups and you accidentally farted in the face of the pretty girl holding your feet. I’m not saying that happened to anyone or even that it happened to me but nowhere else in your life will you be put in that situation involuntarily.
To the latter group, the group that is glad that this time is over, I say that this time in your life will be unlike anything that will ever happen to you again and that even though a lot of the time it sucked, you will carry the lessons you learned in high school with you forever. No matter what you do with your future it has been influenced by what you have done for the last four years. So, at the very least, this time should be respected.
It’s also important to remember that gone are the days of frolicking through life without a care in the world. Now you get to learn the joys of taxes, bills, bosses and a weird ache in your thigh that you’re convinced is a cancerous tumor. You keep telling people about it and they insist it’s just a muscle spasm, but you won’t be persuaded and you’re too scared to go to the doctor, so you just complain about it until maybe one day it just goes away.
So maybe the times weren’t as bad as you thought they were. There’s always a silver lining.
To sum everything up, I just want to remind you of things I wish I would have known when I graduated. Don’t ever forget the people around you that stood with you every step of the way, those are the people worth keeping around. Don’t ever forget that this is YOUR life and no one else’s.
Make decisions that are best for YOU and you’ll never regret those decisions. Always, always, always, give your best effort in everything. You can’t coast through life and expect a fulfilling experience. Life is crazy right now but embrace the craziness because it makes things more interesting. Good luck in all you do and congratulations, you did it.
