Passion: No Age Limit Requirement

"It's not what they take away from you that counts, it's what you do with what you have left." --Hubert Humphrey

As Wake Forest and other colleges and universities around the country gear up for graduation, I am struck by the crackle and pop of electric vibes in the air that resonate from so many super-charged students eager to take the next step into adulthood. Their ideas are fresh, crisp, vibrant and their enthusiasm is contagious. Standing atop this monumental precipice, many of the students believe they can conquer the world! And why not? Must we all become beaten down by the drudgery of the adult world, as we struggle to meet our responsibilities? At what point do we lose our youthful exuberance and stop believing that we can, in fact, do almost anything?

Prior to coming to work for Wake Forest, I had fallen into that trap, where I'd become entangled in my struggles with working in public education, fighting the politics, and felt completely out of control of my own destiny. It didn't happen swiftly, my loss of hope and power, but was taken from me slowly, bit by bit, over a period of several years, like a slow-moving poison in my system. I didn't even realize how much damage it was doing to me until I began talking daily with the students at Wake and their zest for life started rubbing off on me like a magic dust shining brightly on my skin, at first, and then sinking down into my bones. Perhaps we relinquish that hope to the frustrations of crashing again and again into stone walls of "No!" or "Do it this way!" or "You can't do that because...". But as the world around me takes a pregnant pause in anticipation of a new crop of fresh graduates, I am reminded that we are responsible for keeping that freshness alive in ourselves, and others! To all the graduates I say, don't give up! When life puts walls in front of you, climb over them, dig under them, go around them in your forward mobility. It won't be easy, but nothing worth doing or having ever is. It will, however, be worth it! To myself, per the inspiration given to me from the students I've gotten to meet and know over the last year, I say no matter how big the wall is that's in your way, don't give up! Take it apart brick by brick if you have to. Being forty-four or eighty-four, or any age in between doesn't mean you have to lose the "spark" of youth and the hope for the future that many young people display. It merely means you sometimes have to find creative ways to light your life on fire! Isn't that passion what makes life worth living in the first place?

*Image from kcconfidential.com

---