Advice for 2013 High School Graduates

Tomorrow my baby will leave her high school and never return as a student. Saturday afternoon she graduates.
In August, she leaves for University of Louisville, to attend college.

TIme goes so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was reading her bedtime stories and playing with her.

What advice would you give to my daughter and the others who are graduating this year?
What do you think is the single most important thing they need to know?

This is hard times for this momma...

Not just to your daughter but to all graduates...

Gather 'round everybody and listen to me,
you can take like you want to if you have the key.

Just party hardy and live your life,
don't think too much about stress and strife.

Now, I'm not saying to ignore,
if your path is blocked by a closed door.

You need a plan of attack, gotta find the way,
Come on everybody let me hear you say...

Don't Stop

Keep reaching out.

Gotta keep reaching till you reach the top.

Every door has a key that lets you get inside,
the key that unlocks your door in this world is the key that unlocks your mind.

Persistence, that the key

Now you've got the power, you've got the tools
Come on everyone turn it loose.

Originally posted by k21968
Tomorrow my baby will leave her high school and never return as a student. Saturday afternoon she graduates.
In August, she leaves for University of Louisville, to attend college.

TIme goes so fast. It seems like just yesterday I was reading her bedtime stories and playing with her.

What advice would you give to my daughter and the others who are graduating this year?
What do you think is the single most important thing they need to know?

This is hard times for this momma...

Tell her to not listen to us or our generation. Carve out their own paths and wait for the ignorant and backward segments of the world to die out. They sit at a fulcrum and they can either ruin things further or tip the balance towards the next generation after them.

But no pressure or anything.

Originally posted by Agarta
Not just to your daughter but to all graduates...

Gather 'round everybody and listen to me,
you can take like you want to if you have the key.

Just party hardy and live your life,
don't think too much about stress and strife.

Now, I'm not saying to ignore,
if your path is blocked by a closed door.

You need a plan of attack, gotta find the way,
Come on everybody let me hear you say...

Don't Stop

Keep reaching out.

Gotta keep reaching till you reach the top.

Every door has a key that lets you get inside,
the key that unlocks your door in this world is the key that unlocks your mind.

Persistence, that the key

Now you've got the power, you've got the tools
Come on everyone turn it loose.

I really liked this! Thank you so much for sharing!! I bought the Dr Seuss book "The Places you will go" and that is basically the premise of the book. Sounds corny to give it to a 17 yr old, but I wrote little messages on each page. I will definitely share this with her! Thank you!!

reply to post by Cuervo


We are definitely leaving these kids a mess. I hope their generation can fix it!!

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’2013
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering
experience…I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not
understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and
recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you
imagine.

Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as
effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing
bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that
never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm
on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you

Sing

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with
people who are reckless with yours.

Floss

Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes
you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with
yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you
succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year
olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe
you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t
congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your
choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body,
use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever
own..

Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for
good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the
people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you
should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you
knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live
in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will
philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize
that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were
noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund,
maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one
might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will
look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who
supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of
fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the
ugly parts and recycling it for more than
it’s worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen…

The lyrics above was this btw:

reply to post by Cuervo


Throw the wisdom of the elders out the window? I can't tell you how backwards I find this idea but maybe I'm not understanding your true message.

reply to post by roughycannon


I was impressed with your writing skills until I read the post below it.

Thank you! I have sent her that song!

You guys are great!!

reply to post by k21968


Its a great song it was number 1 in the charts back in 1999, I was 17 back then yikes!

reply to post by roughycannon


I just sent it to my daughter and all of her friends who are a graduation party tonight. I hope they listen to it. It is great!! I graduated in 1986...and graduated college in 1990...I dont think I ever heard this song. Thank you for sharing!

Originally posted by minkmouse
reply to post by Cuervo

 

Throw the wisdom of the elders out the window? I can't tell you how backwards I find this idea but maybe I'm not understanding your true message.

Which wisdom of the elders do we actually incorporate into society that actually benefit us? Most of the things we still do that benefits the world are already known to children. The rest is poison in practice.

Seriously, very little of the good elder wisdom is even practiced right now. I've discovered that I can teach my daughter very little about morality. I can only reinforce the things she already knows is right.

I don't say this as a downer. I'm actually very optimistic about our society in the future. I'm optimistic that the next few generations will finally escape our influence of bigotry, violence, greed, and dogmatic religions. They will be better off when our way of rule is gone.

Originally posted by Cuervo

Originally posted by minkmouse
reply to post by Cuervo

 

Throw the wisdom of the elders out the window? I can't tell you how backwards I find this idea but maybe I'm not understanding your true message.

Which wisdom of the elders do we actually incorporate into society that actually benefit us? Most of the things we still do that benefits the world are already known to children. The rest is poison in practice.

Seriously, very little of the good elder wisdom is even practiced right now. I've discovered that I can teach my daughter very little about morality. I can only reinforce the things she already knows is right.

I don't say this as a downer. I'm actually very optimistic about our society in the future. I'm optimistic that the next few generations will finally escape our influence of bigotry, violence, greed, and dogmatic religions. They will be better off when our way of rule is gone.

I see what you're saying but maybe you're painting with too wide of a brush. The wisdom of the elders in your implication would be nothing less I suppose than the "wisdom of the elder sheeple" and you have a valid point. I believe true wisdom of the elders exists but must be sought out. Take for example some of the wisdom that elders have in this community, not all members by any means but I do believe it exists and is a valuable marker for the youth of today. Elder wisdom is practiced today but within groups that do not stand at the lectern and preach. Instead they quietly go about improving their own lives and those who care to pay attention because they understand that the best way to impart knowledge that potentially improves our world is to live by rule of example.
Hope that makes a modicum of sense.

reply to post by k21968



My oldest son is a senior (after next week) at Texas Tech (GUNS UP!!!!)

Based on my experience:

- Live on campus. See the next point....but stay on campus.
- Status symbols aren't for students, they are for folks who work to attain status.
- Screw status.
- Whats this "love" word? Ain't no body got time for that.
- Work. Even if its just folding tshirts at the bookstore for 10 hours a week. Get a job, build a job history. No degree matters without job history
- Your next job interview has already started.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Interesting viewpoint though different from my own in some respects. No time for love is what's killing the bees and what kills the bees will (unless I underestimate Monsato's ingenuity) will take us out!

reply to post by minkmouse



I think the human "bee's" are definitely in no danger of dying off short of a cataclysm. Especially the easily distracted late teen/early twenty college student.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Can't argue that I guess...Those were the days

The only advice she needs is to let loose and live. Let her make mistakes. Its the only way you learn the meaning of life

Tell her to read, Lies my Teacher told Me by James Lowen. sundown.afro.illinois.edu...

This book explains how and why many of the things we are taught in school isn't only incorrect but made up and placed there to deliberately mislead us so we will Not know the true History - only the accepted re-written history our government wants us to believe. It's shocking.

Then I'd tell them forget Everything they learned in school - because they will forget it anyway - 10 years out of school a study found students retain less than 30 percent of what they learned in school.

Now that they have a clean unfettered mind that knows they are being lied to they must: Question Everything, especially Authority ( because it seeks to control them) - in other words, never accept anything on face value without investigating the claims made well enough so they can make an informed decision.

Lastly, I'd rip up that diploma because all it says is that you completed the courses the government wants you to take - it's a form of indoctrination. 12 years of indoctrination - your child is now happily brainwashed,

Teach her to learn for herself without the boundaries of school and start her real life long journey to education. ( in school like Science class they teach you not to question things they deem as approved mainstream knowledge. ie a perpetual motion machine is impossible, the laws of physics are set in stone etc)

Wish her good luck cus if she follows my list she'll need it But she will be more ready for the real world then school made her.