Thousands of area students are graduating this month from local high schools. Even if your graduation was 50 years ago, you probably can remember that feeling of exiting one world that was so familiar to you and preparing to embark on an unknown journey.
The feeling is both exhilarating and a bit frightening.
To help graduates face the future, here is some helpful advice you probably learned many years ago when starting out your education in preschool and kindergarten.
In 1988 author Robert Fulghum published a book titled “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” It was a book of essays in which Fulghum shared some simple thoughts. Here are a few of our favorites we think graduates will be served well to remember as they begin their journey after high school:
Play fair — This is a great place to start. As you begin anew, you have a chance to wipe your slate clean. No matter what happened in your past, you can overcome. Do it right and start by being a model for others.
Don’t hit people — No one likes a bully.
Put things back where you found them — This especially holds true in this day of global warming and global awareness. It’s a great big world out there and we share it with millions, and we are responsible for its well being.
Live a balanced life — All work and no play makes for a very one-sided life. You may end up with a giant house and a pile of money, but will that matter when your life is over? Take time to enjoy the simple things in life. Live, laugh and love.
Learn some and think some — Even though you are graduating from high school, you are never done learning. Take time to reflect on things around you. Read. Watch. Listen. Especially listen.
Say you are sorry if you hurt someone — It’s even more important in this day of technological wizardry that we don’t forget to be a decent human. With information moving at the speed of light, mistakes occur constantly. Take time to own up to yours.