As we diverge to our own paths, I'd like to leave a few pieces of advice behind as a graduating senior. I want to focus on three main points: Time, Beginnings, and Love.
Time
As philosophical as it is, time doesn't exist. There are things we leave behind in high school: the people that eventually fade from our memories, the heartaches and laugher that become quieter as we step away, and sometimes the homes we used to reside in. But, I want to remind everyone that this is not a waste of time. Partly because time doesn't exist. And partly because these things--the trivial and the monumental things--have shaped who you are today and who you become later in life. The memories that make your blood boil, the ones that have you singing your heart out, the bad and good, and the yin and yang--it's all a part of you.
Time doesn't go fast and Time doesn't go slow. The Earth spins whether it is two o'clock AM or two PM; each cloud is different, even if they inhabit the same sky. No minute is truly wasted (unless your looking up dog videos on Youtube...actually no, I don't consider that wasted, I love dogs), each opportunity you miss is another you gain and vice versa. The time you didn't study so you could hang out with friends, or spending money on frivolous items instead of saving for an expensive thing on your wish list, or choosing one college over another, or who you choose to associate with and who you don't--all these decisions are opportunities. Opportunities to go somewhere. Your "mistakes" and "successes" propel you to another opportunity, and another...and another. We all define our mistakes and successes differently, but they are all opportunities. (One's mistake could be defined as a success to someone else). It's all about perspective.
So for all seniors: time may not exist, but opportunities do. Do not fret on mistakes because they still push your forward even if they send you tumbling backwards first. You can leave everything behind, but you always take yourself with you. And high school may have been the best or may have been the worst, but either way it is a part of you, or a part in creating you, and that's what makes it important.
P.S. I didn't think I had a lot to say...but I guess so, therefore I'm splitting the letter into three separate posts! Click here for Beginnings, or Love.
"Our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss." — F. Scott Fitzgerald