Crossroads

Tomorrow my students graduate from our Sixth Form College. They are leaving one reality and are entering another, most likely filled with a bit of anticipation, a bit of fear and a great sense of joy. They are at a crossroad and have to decide if they are to make a right or a left turn in this new phase of their lives.

Tomorrow I am going to stand in front of an audience of 1 2oo people and I am supposed to give a speech that gives them the courage to go into the world with their heads held high and with a sense of their self worth. Through three years my most important task has been to mold them into strong individuals with a strong moral fibre. With the hope that they will treat the people they have around them as they want to be treated themselves.

Tomorrow I am going to remind them of the importance to live in the present, to live in the moment. Too much of our time is wasted on waiting, waiting for a goal to be reached, a certain emotion to be fulfilled before we can allow ourselves to live. Life is not a dress rehearsal and there are no reruns so we should live today, live now. No matter if you believe that we will end up in heaven or be reborn again and again, we have only one chance to be the individual we are today.

Tomorrow I'm going to command them to love, to love as much as their hearts desire because you can never, ever love too much. Friendship and love is what give our lives a purpose. I want them to spend time with the people that mean something to them. I wish that they allow themselves as many experiences as possible together with the people that make their hearts sing.

Tomorrow I will finally plant the last seed to their sense of importance as a living human being and pray that it will grow and thrive through all their lives. I will tell them that they are wonderful individuals just as they are and that noone on this planet has the right to belittle them, trample on them or make them feel less worthy than anyone else. I can't give them a world where everyone is treated equally but I can give them the hope they are perfect just the way they are.

Tomorrow I stand on the threshold of a crossroad of my own, of leaving one reality and of entering another. I will not turn left of right. I will do as I have always done, walk straight ahead.

//P.