(Our daughter, Alexandra, graduated from The University of Georgia in December 2014)
A new year begins. Every cliche tells us to make a resolution, to renew, reinvigorate, reinvent ourselves.
My daughter graduated from the University of Georgia School of Journalism a few weeks ago. I settled in for the graduation ceremony, and like all graduation ceremonies, there were three perennial elements–a prayer, a joke, and an inspirational speech based on an analogy.
First the prayer. The campus minister told the graduates to not spend their coming days asking for blessings, but to ask to be a blessing. It is there the richness of life begins.
I looked at the graduates, taking endless selfies, and wondered if they even heard him. With the holidays approaching, I thought, they need only to reflect upon the tremendous anticipation one feels in giving a gift to someone special, awaiting with excitement the joy that person will feel upon opening the gift. You realize in that moment that the best feeling of all is how ones heart swells with the joy felt in giving the gift. To live life always giving in some way, literally and figuratively, keeps you from being self-centered, self-absorbed, overly worried about self, self, self, I thought, as they continued to take their selfies. The gift you give to others, even just a kind word, is uplifting to the recipient of that thoughtfulness, but also rebounds back to you, because in seeing the impact of your kindness on them, your heart swells in a magnitude greater than your words.
And then the joke. A young boy picked up a bat, tossed a ball in the air, and said to himself, “I will be the best batter in the world!” He tossed, he swung, he missed. Undeterred, he picked the ball up, said “I will be the best batter in the world!” He tossed, he swung, he missed. Determined, he picked up the ball again, said “I WILL BE THE BEST BATTER IN THE WORLD!” Another miss.
He then picked up the ball and said, “I WILL BE THE BEST PITCHER IN THE WORLD!”
Yes, life has curve balls. They can open our eyes to what we never envisioned as a possibility.
Enter the commencement speaker, introduced to us as a NASA scientist. I thought I would struggle to stay awake. But he captured and enraptured me. He began by showing us a picture just taken recently by NASA. I was astounded that we were looking at a photograph of the surface of the moon, where the footprints made by Neil Armstrong 45 years ago, were still there! Amazing.
He went on to tell the graduates that we all leave footprints on the surface of life. And at the end of the day, we need to feel comfortable with and proud of the footprints we left that day.
I thought about that speech for days. Because, at the end of the day, you will be remembered for something.
Maybe the footprints you left were on the heart of the elderly person for whom you held open a door. Maybe it was the deep footprints you left as a parent when you told your child you were incredibly proud of them before they closed their eyes for the night. Maybe you contributed invaluable research to a project at work, maybe you cured someone who was ill, won an important case, or taught someone to read. Maybe you simply, but importantly, said something incredibly kind to someone, that unbeknownst to you, was feeling quite down that day. What we consider the large accomplishments of a lifetime–inventing a vaccine, walking on the moon, inventing the iPhone–Salk, Armstrong, Jobs–come along by a few in each generation. For the vast majority of us, the footprints are not seen by as many people, but they are relevant. They are important. They are who you are.
You will be remembered for something. Every day.
So begin this new year not anguishing over whether or not you have a resolution, and whether or not you will keep it. The grander and larger accomplishment is to focus on the footprints you leave today. Life, wonderfully, really begins anew every time you wake up.
Wendy
The RJ TENNIS Drop-In/Make-Up Clinic Schedule
http://www.rjtennisbootcamp.com/rjt-drop-inmake-up-schedule/
http://www.rjtennisbootcamp.com/rjt-drop-inmake-up-schedule/
Please click onto the following link to get onto the RJ TENNIS e-mailing list. Thank you!
http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001SPMbSMElFv4pQgvu1TVBd_RE1XWwMWnN
http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001SPMbSMElFv4pQgvu1TVBd_RE1XWwMWnN
RJ TENNIS LLC ®
Copyright © 2017 Rob Carvajal, Jr./RJ TENNIS®
All Rights Reserved
