As I look out into this audience I see, my family, my teachers, my friends, I would like to thank each one of you for the support you’ve given us all- to get us each to this point today….I look out and I see my fellow classmates of The Class of 2010. . . But more importantly I see a group of individuals, each with different backgrounds, ideas, desires, and achievements. We are each here today to celebrate those Achievements; Today is the day of our graduation.— Tomorrow we begin our days of independence; relying on nothing but our own vision and judgment to guide us.. . . Lancers, as you now forge ahead, you leave behind the solace of high school; but enter into a world of achievement- where success is in sight, will you press on and choose to pursue it?
Ayn Rand once said, “The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity.” The United States of America is a land of opportunity, and throughout the course of our lives we will be faced with more opportunity than any person before us. . Ronald Regan, said, “Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation.” — Our graduating class holds in its hands the achievements of our parents, teachers, and those who paved the roads before us. We honor them for their courage and merits, as we reach for our own success, and recognize that our triumphs begin with theirs.
A line from The Fountainhead reads, “Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision.” As we each Race towards our visions it is important to realize that you will fail if you fail to proceed with a passion. History is filled with examples of those who succeeded—against all odds—— their passion and individual desires guided them to success.
Call a child dull and hopeless and flunk him in the sixth grade, and you have a Winston Churchill. Tell a young boy that he has no talent, and that he should give up, and you have a Walt Disney. Deny a child the ability to see, hear and speak, and you have a Helen Keller. Call a boy a slow learner "retarded" and write him off as uneducable, and you have an Albert Einstein. Take an undeveloped nation whose people have no rights, no government, no trained army, and no conceivable chance at liberty—and you have the beginning of The United States of America. . . All of these examples were told that they could not, that they would never. They fought, they suffered, and they paid. But they won. Because they wanted their visions to much, to let anyone deny them from chasing it.
My Grandfather recently told me, “Jason you’re a lucky person, you already know what you want to be, so be sure, at all costs to never give up on it. Take every position, every opportunity, every internship, job or class that will bring you closer to that goal. And just don’t ever give up on it. I expect great things from you.” My friends, the world expects great things from us. But as Dr. Howard Thurman put it "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Ladies and Gentlemen, The road to success is by no means easy. . . in fact it is meant to be hard.. . . But you can rise above anything that stands against you; if you will swear allegiance to yourself, to your own values, to your own goals and to your vision, and promise to follow them as far down the road of achievement as your ability and ambition will carry you.
I’ll end with a quote from a character from the Famous book, Atlas Shrugged. John Galt once said, “Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it's yours.” Friends, there is a reason that both the Lancer Legend and Creed end with the words; “The World is mine”. It’s because, the world truly is yours . . . This IS our time. Now Go out there, and take it!!!
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