BRATTLEBORO — I am honored to address the members of the class of 2013 and all of their fans - we would not be here without you, and we know it (even if sometimes we'd like to pretend otherwise).
See, this is the thing about a commencement speech that puzzled me at first: Virtually anything I - or anyone, for that matter - says from this podium, you already know. You guys are a bunch of smarty pants.
So I asked myself, if you know it already, why should I bother saying it again? What's in it for you, for me, for this wonderful audience?
And here's the thing: It does no harm to be reminded of how much you know - how much you've learned, how far you've come, how far you will go.
There was a time in our lives when every new piece of information learned was such a novelty that it became, momentarily, the center of our existence. In many ways, that is the essence of being alive: that insatiable curiosity, that innate appetite for exploration that exists within every child.
Eventually, as the practice of learning becomes routine and our formal educational careers begin, it is standardized; knowledge becomes something we take for granted. And in reality, it does not have to be anything profound, but those things we know make us who we are, so we'd do well to remember them from time to time.
It's because of them that we each have a story.
* * *
I've wondered for a long time whether we write this story or whether we simply edit one that was written for us. I'm not sure I know yet.
Regardless, stuff happens: You don't always get what you want, and sometimes you have to do things you don't want to do, but you know as well as I that this all builds character, and none of us would be quite the same today without the collective experiences of our lifetimes.
There will be things you don't understand: cruelty, love, why recess and nap time ever ended. We will lose people we care about: the ones who still echo in the pages of our stories and are, therefore, never truly lost to us. The memory of them endures to remind us that the little things matter, that they aren't so little after all.
What matters most is something we often take for granted: we are all lucky to be here. And by “here,” I don't just mean “on this planet,” although that is important.
I'm talking about the little things here - with your family, your bros, in this gorgeous place, on this sunny evening - on your graduation night. It's pretty frickin' terrific, isn't it?
So while you're here, and wherever you go, remember those things you know.
And remember that there is always something more to know.
I know you know you know that.