4 Jun. 2018
Speech
Dear parents, teachers, and our superstar graduates:
Good morning.
Time flows by without our notice. It has come to the beginning of June, the time which you, our dearest graduates, depart from Kinglee High School and pursue your college life. Congratulations, mi amigos, you have reached a milestone in your life, where you have the opportunity to turn back and commemorate your precious moments in Kinglee and to look ahead to the future.
Normally, the commencement speakers would call this “a new beginning” and encourage you to look forward. It is important, however, to notice that it is beneficial to look back and reflect on yourselves. If the past can give us anything, it is experience. Think about six years ago, when your parents dropped you off in front of the Kinglee gate and waved goodbye to you. Were you nervous? Were you confident? Or were you totally puzzled by the upcoming high school life? Consider yourselves now and look around. You are surrounded by friends that you call brothers, and you are confident to face the next step in your education. Think about the significant changes that you have undergone these years at Kinglee. What, or who, made this all come true? Is it your astounding project that wowed everyone in the room; is it the extra effort that you secretly put into your subject of interest that made you a master; or is it the friends that helped you through the tough days of life? Achievements are important, effort is important, yet friends, who always care about you, are more important. You will always appreciate their unconditional support that sets you free from being afraid of failing. They have taught you how to face the failure and have made you stronger.
Now, the commencement speakers are expected to wish you good luck and to hope everything goes smoothly in the future, but I will not do so, and I will tell you why. I wish you to be treated unfairly, so that you will appreciate the value of justice. I hope that you will suffer betrayal so you will grasp the importance of loyalty. I wish that you will experience loneliness, so that you will not take friends for granted. I hope you will be ignored, so that you will know the importance of listening to others. I hope you will encounter hardships that will smack the harsh reality in your face, so that you will understand that your parents, with no doubt, have been working extremely hard to raise you up and educate you. Whether I actually wish these things or not, they’re going to happen, as the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court remarked in a graduation ceremony last year. I hope that you can benefit from those misfortunes and make yourselves better and stronger.
Now, the commencement speakers are expected to give some advice. They give great advice such as “be yourself.” And that is true. You should not only be yourself, but also get creative and be different. You should utilize all your opportunities and resources to know more people, gain more knowledge, and be a better person. Challenge yourselves. Don’t be scared of the large course load and your possible negative derivative of your GPA as a function of time when challenging yourselves. Yes, your grade of tangible work may not always be perfect, but it is through the process of suffering that you grow up and learn. After all, you will find out that you have learned more things than you can possibly imagine.
As for the end of the speech, I would like to conclude by reading some lyrics from We’re All in This Together, a song from High School Musical:
Here and now it’s time for celebration
I finally figured it out
That all our dreams have no limitations
That's what it’s all about
Everyone is special in their own way
We make each other strong
[We] were not the same
[We] were different in a good way
Together where we belong
We are all in this together
Thank you.
亲爱的家长、老师、还有我们的毕业生们：
大家早上好。
时光从我们身边匆匆流去。又到了一年六月初，来到了你们（我们亲爱的毕业生们）离开勤礼大家庭并开始你们大学生涯的时候了。恭喜你们迎来了人生当中的重大转折点。此刻将是你回顾你在勤礼的珍贵时光并展望未来的最好契机。
一般来说，演讲者会把今天称为一个“新的开始”并鼓励你们向前看。但回顾过去也不失为一个好选择。如果过去能给我们任何有价值的东西，那便是经验了。回想一下几年之前，当你的父母在勤礼大门前把你们放下并向你挥别时，你是紧张的，自信的，还是对中学生活不知所措的？再想想现在的自己，看看周围：你被你称为兄弟的死党们所环绕，而且你也能够自信并游刃有余地应对你未来的学业。想一想这些年你在勤礼的成长，是什么让这成为了现实？是你让大家眼前一亮的作品，是你半夜偷偷学习的努力，还是那群帮助你度过艰难困苦的朋友们？成就很重要，努力很重要，但那些在乎你的朋友们面前，这一切似乎都不那么重要了。你会感激他们让你不再害怕失败的无条件的支持。是他们教会了你如何应对失败并让你变得更加坚强。
现在，演讲者一般会祝你们好运并希望你的未来一路顺遂，但我并不会这么做。我希望你会遭遇到不公正的待遇，这样你才能体会到公正的价值。我希望你会体验到背叛的滋味，这样你才能领悟忠诚的重要性。我希望你有时会感受到孤独，这样你才不会将朋友视为理所应当。我希望你的声音有时会被忽视，这样你才能了解为什么要做一个倾听者。我希望你会邂逅艰难险阻，这样你才能理解你父母多年以来对你的辛勤培育。就像美国最高法院首席法官在去年的一场毕业典礼上说的一样，不论我是否希望这些事情发生，它们迟早会降临。我希望你能够在人生的逆境当中完善自我，将自己变得更加坚强。
现在又到了演讲者给你们一些建议的时候了。他们一般会建议你“做你自己”，而这并没有什么问题。你不仅应该做你自己，还应该改变自己。你应该利用好你所有的机会和资源来认识更多的人、学习更多的知识并成为一个更好的人。给自己点挑战。别被课程压力和你挑战过程中可能有所下降的GPA吓倒了。不错，你纸面上的成绩可能不会一直那么好看，但你会在这挑战的过程中不断成长。你终究会发现你其实学会了比你想象的还要更多。
在最后，我希望用《歌舞青春》中一首歌的歌词作为尾声，祝你们在未来勇往直前、再创佳绩：
此时此刻我们欢聚一堂
我终于明白了
我们那些不受束缚的梦想
才是这一切的意义
每个人都与众不同
我们让彼此更加坚强
我们不尽相同
各有所长
但我们依然属于这里，相聚在这里
我们永远在一起
谢谢大家。
Adapted from John G. Roberts Jr’s commencement speech at Cardigan Mountain School in 2017.
改编自John G. Roberts Jr. 于2017年在卡迪根山学校的毕业演讲。