The following is the Superintendent’s graduation address to the Robbinsville High School Class of 2015, given June 19:
Congratulations Class of 2015!
We are thrilled to be celebrating with you tonight. Whether you have been in our schools for 13 years or just the past few years of high school, it is truly an honor for us to cheer you forward as you go from here. As we cheer, I would also like to encourage you to be people who see. People who look beyond the obvious to see what lies underneath. People who by seeing and understanding the stories of others become moved to be helpers toward something better. People who see the complexity of the problems faced by our world yet do not give up hope that possibility lies ahead.
No words in a speech tonight will set a recipe that paves a path toward meaning and success for each of you, and certainly no words spoken tonight will chart a path that will heal the world. But people who understand that first impressions are not always right, and that good can come from things that look desperate are people who will make a lasting impact and a positive difference in our world. I challenge you to be this kind of people—people who really see and then respond accordingly.
Seeing is big and little, and everything is not always as it first appears. We all have stories that lie underneath the surface, and our stories form us and shape us. Think about the kid who came every day to class without his homework finished. What if underneath he wasn’t just a callous, irresponsible kid, but had to work two jobs in the afternoon and evening to help put food on the table for his family. Or maybe the kid who has the nicest car and the nicest clothes, but underneath feels like she is the most lonely person in the world? Or how about the one who gets the highest grades and is off to an Ivy League school in the fall, but can’t seem to keep a friendship or relationship intact? Are we content to let the story on the surface be what defines us or will be become people who see and act?
I challenge you to be people who look at the whole story, not to make excuses for what others do or how they act, but so that you can come alongside as a cheerleader, encourager, supporter and problem solver. By paying attention and seeing, we begin to understand that our walk as humans is often hard and almost always complicated. Seeing like this makes good people. I challenge you to be good people.
In a bigger sense, beyond our interpersonal relationships, things in the world aren’t always as they seem either. Will we be people who realize that first impressions are not always the most helpful for deciding how to engage with the world? I wonder what might change if we start to see what is under the surface? Are people poor because they are lazy? Are they uneducated because they just don’t feel like going to school? In prison because they are bad? Is war always about hate? Does everyone have the same chance to succeed? Is where you are born destiny? If you fail once will you always fail—are you just a failure?
What if there is more than meets the eye? What if dealing with our world’s problems requires citizens that see beyond easy explanations into the complex and intractable things underneath? What if you turn out to be someone who sees things as they really are? Will you then ignore the changes our world needs and go on your merry way? Or will you use your gifts and your privilege and your education to make change in the places you touch? Will you take a second look at things in order to notice what might not be so obvious? Will you be one who is moved and inspired by the larger story? Our world needs people like that.
I want to leave you with a brief story. About three weeks ago, I got a phone call from my wife, who was upset. She told me that she was at the Shoprite in line waiting to check out with her groceries—it was a fairly typical visit for groceries, where she was picking up a few things totaling about $80 that were “needed” in our house. In front of her in line was a young couple with a small child, and the checkout process was taking a long time. That’s when she started paying attention.
The young couple had about $40 worth of groceries—some fruits and vegetables, cereal and a few other items. The young woman, with great dignity in her face, was shuffling through a series of papers that looked like checks or maybe food vouchers, while the young man grabbed various items from the conveyor belt, argued the price and stormed up and down the store trying to find healthy food options for an affordable price. The scene was heart breaking. Standing behind this beautiful little family was my wife with a pile of groceries twice the cost where affordability was not even considered. The checkout line at Shoprite isn’t exactly the best place to initiate social action, but noticing and paying attention is a start.
My guess is that most of us, myself included, would simply get frustrated by how long checking out was taking and fail to observe a moving human story at play. But noticing and paying attention plants the seeds of change and real hope. Would you have noticed? Would you have been moved? Will you leave here and be a person who goes through life paying attention? Before you say yes, be careful, because if you say yes, you might actually be called to help heal some of our world’s brokenness.
Congratulations on reaching this milestone. You have earned the spotlight, and we are proud of you. Please go from here with your eyes and hearts open. Our world needs people like that.
Steve Mayer is superintendent of Robbinsville Schools.
