Words for Graduates, 2012

I don't know exactly how many seniors I have taught, but this is the first time in over 30 years that I have not been able to say good-bye to any seniors I have had in class, to shake their hands, to give them a hug, to slap them a high-five.

I have no regrets about retiring, but know that if it weren't for Scott Walker's "reforms" that aren't really working, I'd still be teaching at Burlington High School.  Still, I am at peace with the decision to step away from the lectern and let others continue to push back the frontiers of ignorance. 

I've come to the realization that this year's senior class at BHS is really the last one of students I had in class.  A few stragglers may remain next year, but those seniors of 2013 had little contact with me in a classroom.  Largely it is this year's class that is my last.

Usually on the last day of classes I would offer some words of good-bye to the graduates of 2012.   This year I can only do it here. 

So here are some thoughts to consider as you walk across that stage.

My old man always told me that the secret of happiness is simple.  Find something that you enjoy doing and then get somebody to pay you to do that.  For my entire career I truly enjoyed teaching.  I hope that whatever fields or endeavors you choose to pursue bring you joy.

I have said this to others.  It's not the ten suggestions.  They are rules, and whether you believe in God, Yahweh, Allah, or Buddha, it doesn't matter.  You can run around the woods naked like a Druid and drink strange fermented fluids.  These are the rules.  Don't lie, steal, cheat, kill, etc.  In short don't do anything that will harm others or yourself.   I don't care if you believe that some divine being handed a guy named Moses some tablets with these rules carved in them.  I do want you to know that the rules are indeed carved in stone.  In short, if you follow those rules, you will be a good person and in the end that is all that really matters. 

Speaking of the end, a wise person once told me about belief.  He said, "Come the end of the world, we're going to look either very smart or really stupid." 

It is nice of you to thank me or other teachers you have had, but the people you really need to thank are in the audience behind you.  Those are your parents, married, single, or otherwise.  Without them you just might not be at these stage in your life.  For the most part, they did what they thought was best for you.  The rules they set for you were set with their love for you.  And, if you want to know a big secret about parenting, if and when you are lucky enough to have children of your own, you will set pretty much the same rules and suddenly come to the realization that your parents were pretty damn smart after all. 

***

As I left last year, memories ran through my mind, as I am sure they will run through yours.  I kept coming back to this song by Phil Ochs:

There's no place in this world where I'll belong when I'm gone

And I won't know the right from the wrong when I'm gone

And you won't find me singin' on this song when I'm gone

So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here

And I won't feel the flowing of the time when I'm gone

All the pleasures of love will not be mine when I'm gone

My pen won't pour out a lyric line when I'm gone

So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here

And I won't breathe the bracing air when I'm gone

And I can't even worry 'bout my cares when I'm gone

Won't be asked to do my share when I'm gone

So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here

And I won't be running from the rain when I'm gone

And I can't even suffer from the pain when I'm gone

Can't say who's to praise and who's to blame when I'm gone

So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here

Won't see the golden of the sun when I'm gone

And the evenings and the mornings will be one when I'm gone

Can't be singing louder than the guns when I'm gone

So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here

All my days won't be dances of delight when I'm gone

And the sands will be shifting from my sight when I'm gone

Can't add my name into the fight while I'm gone

So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here

And I won't be laughing at the lies when I'm gone

And I can't question how or when or why when I'm gone

Can't live proud enough to die when I'm gone

So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here

As I listened to it several times during the last week of my career, I kept changing the last line to something like, "I hope that I have done it while I was here."   As I reflect back on it, a year removed from retirement, I know I still have a lot to do while I am here.  There's some oomph still left in me, some fire in the belly. 

But, for you graduates, you're just beginning.  What are you going to do while you are here?

Be happy.  Be good.  Find your own barbaric yawp and disturb the universe.

Why Vote?

After petitioners gathered far more signatures than needed, Wisconsin is on the verge of a recall election for governor, lieutenant governor, and four state senate seats.  The incumbents facing these recall elections are all Republicans.  I am voting on June 5. 

One mantra of the current GOP leadership is that people are responsible for their own success, that it is not guaranteed.  Yet, when individuals band together to try to achieve that success together in unions, the GOP basically says that it is wrong.   This is what we can view as true irony.  Yes, I am voting on June 5.

As a nation we cannot forget that labor and management have always argued about wages, working conditions and benefits.  We need only to look at history to see that the struggle for better wages, benefits, and working conditions has not been easy.  We also cannot deny that workers, both public and private have seen the fruits of their labor diminish.  Wages have been cut, benefits reduced, and pensions raided all while the CEOs of businesses have seen their income and golden parachutes increase exponentially.  Yes, I am voting on June 5.

The actions by the legislature and governor have indeed divided the citizens of the state.  Relatives and friends are pitted against each other for the sole purpose of the ideology of those making the laws.  I am reminded of part of a George Carlin routine:

I am certainly voting on June 5.

I used to hunt.  I don't any more mainly because I lost my hunting partner when my father-in-law passed away.  He used to get great enjoyment out of teaching the city slicker how to shoot and hunt.  A deer license is inexpensive, but if the new Deer Czar has his way, the fees to hunt on public lands will be far too exorbitant for me to even consider taking up the great sport again.  I am not hunting, but I am voting on June 5

I believe in the right to vote for all citizens of legal age and residence.  I'd like to see them try to stop voter fraud, but voter ID will not stop that and is in fact a ploy by some to hinder voting by some groups.  Further there is no documented proof of rampant fraud anywhere in the country let alone Wisconsin except in the mind of demagogic talk show hosts. 

I believe in the sanctity of human life and not the duplicitous idea of a death penalty.  I believe in equal pay for equal work and that it should be easier to bring suit against employers who don't pay women the same pay as men for the same work.

I believe in the power of many workers and their ability to raise wages to a decent level with decent benefits and secure pensions.  I believe that the past year has proven that some would rather take away all worker rights and will attempt to do so for all workers, public and private.  I am most definitely voting on June 5.

I don't know what the outcome of the recall election will be.  But damn right I am voting on June 5.