Commencement Speech at Orcas Island High School

By Kathleen Collister, June 13, 2009
on the occasion of the Commencement of the Orcas Island High School Class of 2009

Graduates, families, friends, honored guests, colleagues:

It is an honor to be chosen by the senior class to give their commencement address and I am humbled by it…and not disappointed at all that I was not their first choice.  As a US history and government teacher, coming in second to the president of the United States is an honor…so thank you!

We gather here today in ceremony that is timeless — stretching behind us and ahead of us — a long line of similar ceremonies.  It is comforting to know that we are a part of a long thread of humanity.

Not too long ago, I had the occasion to go to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle and I saw the most remarkable exhibit in my life.

Walking up a long ramp, every ten feet or so…another podium. On each, a fossil skull-our ancient ancestors

3 million years ago —

2 million years ago —

1 million years ago —

all the way to  modern homo sapiens sapiens, 100,000 years ago-it was stunning and surprisingly very emotional

And when I was later sitting at home that evening, I looked around my small dwelling and thought to myself –so 3 million years of evolution — to this?  A wood fire, a warm meal, loving arms, a safe nest.  The important things in life remain the same and that is a comfort.

Now, 45 years ago, I was sitting in a cap and gown with my future ahead of me.

We too had elected a man who broke the barriers of earlier presidents…our Obama, only his name was Kennedy. And we had witnessed his brutal murder. Instead of a September 11 with deaths of over 3,000, we had faced the Cuban Missile Crisis and the very real possibility of total annihilation.

And we were in the midst of our own war, not in Iraq but Vietnam; and that war was about to be escalated; a war that unknown to us was going to spin wildly out of control and be a defining event in our nation’s history and my generation.

Now you might say that this is all just old news — its history — it is the past. But we didn’t think so: it was our present.

So what is this present and what is this future before you?  We educators have a near impossible task….to prepare you for the future, yet, the world you are heading into doesn’t exist yet.

And how you are to get there?

I suppose the same way all those thousands of generations before you: one day, one decision a at a time. And before you even realize it, one of you will be giving a speech to bright eyed young people, aglow with possibility and opportunity.

So what advice do I have? Take the time as Socrates said to Know Yourself…it is the most important knowledge you will ever have and only you can learn it.

Mistakes? They will come along and they will make you who you are.

45 years ago there had been no sexual revolution; we still lived in a deeply segregated society; our nation was making thousands of nuclear weapons and believed that a nuclear war was survivable;

45 years ago there were no personal computers; no internet (this didn’t even exist until 15 years ago) — the digital revolution — did this have something to do with fingers? All of this was to come; it was in the future 45 years ago..

Today, the challenges ahead of us are perhaps more worrisome. The greatest threat our species may ever face, global climate change, will require great changes and innovations…innovations that some say may not possible.  But change, adaptability, innovation-these are the hallmarks of our species.

So as we move through these times, remember…be kind and have fun…See that there is more joy than sorrow… keep your focus on the happiness.

Relish the good times ahead and don’t let the sad times change you too much.

We are sending you off today as our emissaries to the future…a future that many of us sitting or standing here will not live to see. So be it — it is the way of all generations…in that respect your generation is no different from mine….or the countless others who have come and gone before us.

So, take care…honor the past…if there is one thing I can tell you from my 30 years of studying history, it is that the past is a prologue to the future!  As Howard Zinn has said, if you don’t know your history, it is like you were born yesterday.

Your families, your friends, your teachers — we have imbued you with our best intentions.  We have taught you what we could:

How to work equations;

To conjugate verbs;

To look through a microscope;

To read a primary source document;

To exercise properly;

How to trim a sail, cook a meal, hopefully how to do your laundry, hit a fastball, dribble down the court…so many things and yet there is so much more to learn.

We send you out today with our love — our respect — our confidence in your abilities — you are our bright hope for the future….a future that will rush up to greet you as you leave this gym today.

Now, let me tell you a little something about the class of 2009, these young women and men sitting before us today who represent the future of our nation and our society. We can be glad of that…and here is why.

I have had the chance to work with them every day for the better part of the last two years. I have witnessed their growth from bright-eyed sophomores to even brighter-eyed seniors. I have seen them develop into clear thinkers who have a sense what their roles may be in this unknown future ahead of them.

Every year I do a unit with the seniors where we look briefly at the ideas of some of our culture’s greatest thinkers, people from Buddha to Moses to Mohammed, Martin Luther to Gandhi, Mark Twain, John Locke, Jane Addams, Rachel Carson. It is an attempt to acquaint the students with a whole host of people who have impacted western thought. And then after all of our discussions-and it takes several weeks-I ask the students to write an essay, using some of the ideas of these people, as well as their own, to explain what their idea is of what a Just Society would be…what would it look like.

This group before you took this assignment very seriously, even more so than past classes.  And if their responses are any indication of what they might choose to do with their life, we can be grateful.  Over and over again, the following words and concepts came forth in their essays, and I quote:

To them a Just Society would be cooperative, peaceful, caring;

A just society would more equitably distribute the wealth of the nation;

A just society would refuse to ignore those in need;

A just society would promote the environment instead of short term gain;

A just society would help people to see that living in loving relationships with each other is the key to our collective future;

A just society would create a responsible and generous community that would allow everyone the freedom to pursue what they want;

And finally, a just society would promote equality — real equality with no reference to gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

These are all exact phrases from their responses and serve as illustrations of what this group of young people think the world should look like.

Class of 2009, I salute you-

If you can continue in these directions, and I have every confidence that you will, you will indeed be the change that this country is looking for and so desperately needs.

Now I come to the end of my remarks-we have arrived near the end of the ceremony and the new beginning that lies before you.

I challenge you, as Gandhi said, to be the change you want to see

Hold dear to you the lessons of your families, community and teacher, but move us forward, away from a culture of competition and gain and towards that bright idea of partnership and community, where all men and women are not only created equal before the law, but are given the chance to be equal in practice.

Where peace is more important than right or might.

And where — in this coming century — it will be said that this generation not only met the challenges but exceeded them.

Go forth, you dear, dear children —

You carry with you the hopes and dreams of all those generations of humans who came before you.

The times ahead of us will be fraught with difficult choices. Your generation will be the one to, paraphrasing Kennedy, “pay the price and bear the burden” of the profligate ways of the past and the present.

You will be the ones to join in the battle against the old way of doing things and will hopefully bring the world into another “new birth of freedom.” It will not be easy.

However, with clarity of purpose and purity of heart, you will bring us through this unknowable future to the better times ahead…

I challenge you to:

Lead us back to being citizens, not consumers;

Turn us from a warring society to a peaceful one;

Move us in the direction we need to go to create more and destroy less;

And keep your focus on the future ahead, push aside the naysayers who will tell you the kind of just world you seek is impossible.

Remember, all major reform in this country has come from the people not the politicians. It is the people who have generated movements as diverse as the abolition of slavery, women’s rights to own their own property, the civil right to not have to suffer the crippling legacy of racism any longer…even the great reforms of the New Deal were generated by the plight of the people.

Now, I have one last thing I want to say to you one more time…

For some time now, I have heard the word liberal used by some as an epithet…and as you all know, I have something to say to this… remember:  to be liberal is to be broad minded… it is not a partisan word.

If it wasn’t for liberal thinkers, we would still be ruled by a king;

If it wasn’t for liberal thinkers, we would still have slavery;

If I wasn’t for liberal thinkers, women wouldn’t have the right to vote;

If it wasn’t for liberal thinkers, child labor would still be legal;

If it wasn’t for liberal thinkers, no lands would have been set aside as national parks;

If it wasn’t for liberal thinkers, there would be no laws granting the rights of labor to organize;

And, if it wasn’t for liberal thinkers, our mentally ill and disabled would still be treated as pariahs.

Liberal thought is a part of the long tradition of freedom that was set forth by our Founders in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence and again in 1787 with the Constitution and again 1791 with the Bill of Rights; a tradition that has been expanded over these past two hundred years, perfecting our union… creating opportunities for all of our citizens. These liberal ideas have spread and continue to spread around the world…these liberal ideas are the hallmark of our society, and perhaps our species.

I ask you today to continue to move us, homo sapiens sapiens, forward – towards a future filled with bright hope and promise; a future that the better angels of our nature would be proud of.

To paraphrase Susan B. Anthony in a letter to her friend Elizabeth Cady Stanton 150 years ago — we have made you our arrows — and now we fling you out to the future.

Congratulations Class of 2009!  It has been my honor and my privilege to be your teacher. My dear broad-minded young friends, hold fast to your dreams and always remember… no matter where you go or what you want to do in your life…

Yes You Can!