{"id":994,"date":"2012-05-09T11:42:37","date_gmt":"2012-05-09T16:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=994"},"modified":"2012-05-09T11:45:32","modified_gmt":"2012-05-09T16:45:32","slug":"commencing-to-commence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=994","title":{"rendered":"Commencing to commence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I received videos of two\u00a0commencement\u00a0addresses by email this morning. I am sure I will\u00a0receive\u00a0more and I have to admit, I always look forward to them this time of year. All those fresh faces in the crowd, the speaker full of sage advice,\u00a0usually\u00a0witty vignettes about their own college\u00a0years\u00a0and most certainly earnest reflection.<\/p>\n

One was Steve Jobs’s 2005 address at Stanford and the other CNN’s medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta’s recent address to the Class of 2012 at his alma mater, The University of Michigan. Both used numbered ideas, imaginary point bullets if you will, that outlined\u00a0their\u00a0version of how to handle, look at or best utilize one’s future. \u00a0Each urged their crowd of twenty one-ish, \u00a0fidgety, probably hung over college senior\u00a0listeners to hope, dream, succeed, fail and embrace whatever lies ahead.<\/p>\n

I was actually touched and inspired by both speaker’s thoughts. \u00a0Extremely different\u00a0personae. \u00a0Practically\u00a0polar success stories. \u00a0One traditional. \u00a0One anything but. \u00a0One born of\u00a0college\u00a0sweethearts who lived the\u00a0American\u00a0dream. \u00a0The other given up for adoption by a college\u00a0relationship, taken in by a second choice adoptive family and nonetheless, also lived the American dream.<\/p>\n

I listened to their reflections, their guidelines. \u00a0Both were extremely impressive but neither strayed too far from typical graduation speech text. \u00a0Find your dream and live it. \u00a0Live it new each day. \u00a0Love your family; remember your friends. Know that each day is a gift and could be your last, Steve Jobs’s \u00a0reflections\u00a0on this obviously more haunting being recirculated posthumously.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0hear\u00a0and read these speeches so differently now as a fifty plus year old someone than I did as a twenty something someone. I feel like the parents always nod in ardent agreement with these speakers as their children nod off. I know these kids are hearing bits and pieces as they check their cell phones and chat behind cupped palms. \u00a0 They might even catch the thesis of the address but can they really employ or truly understand the advice at their stage of life?<\/p>\n

They are so young.<\/p>\n

So I am thinking these addresses as fabulous, well-delivered and well-intentioned as they are, are often more poignant for the parents than they are the students. For some of us, they stir up memories of roads not\u00a0taken\u00a0and long forgotten dreams that these students haven’t lived long enough to feel or understand. That\u00a0said, maybe it is not such a bad thing.<\/p>\n

Kids can hear these speeches and be inspired to take the twenty or so years they have lived and build a successful, fulfilling future that should include many decades. \u00a0And the parents can be reminded that they may only have twenty or so years left and, if they are fortunate, a few decades to finally do what really matters in their lives and make that difference that seemed so easy as an idealistic college graduate.<\/p>\n

In spite of my somewhat conflicted sentiments, I hear\/read\u00a0commencement\u00a0addresses and I feel recharged.<\/p>\n

These particular commencement reflections got me out of my bathrobe\u00a0before\u00a0noon, inspired me to write this post after a\u00a0month-long,\u00a0road trip\u00a0hiatus and will at least for the rest of the day make me more conscious of \u00a0how I am spending this particular 24 hours.<\/p>\n

Check them out. \u00a0You may even get a week, a month, a year’s worth of kick-in-the-ass. I was\u00a0just\u00a0glad I took the few minutes each to watch and listen…And\u00a0seriously, could Sanjay be any better looking?<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=QJxmLSjoPYg<\/a>
\n<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/D1R-jKKp3NA<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I received videos of two\u00a0commencement\u00a0addresses by email this morning. I am sure I will\u00a0receive\u00a0more and I have to admit, I always look forward to them this time of year. All those fresh faces in the crowd, the speaker full of sage advice,\u00a0usually\u00a0witty vignettes about their own college\u00a0years\u00a0and most certainly earnest reflection. One was Steve Jobs’s …<\/p>\n

>>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCommencing to commence - askmsmom.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=994\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Commencing to commence - askmsmom.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I received videos of two\u00a0commencement\u00a0addresses by email this morning. 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