Graduation
By:
Justin
Commings
Mark
came home very disappointed and angry, for the first time that year he felt as
if the air had been pressed out of his lungs all at once. At the age of seven Mark found out what a
valedictorian was and he made a personal vow to himself that is what he was
going to be when he graduated. All of
his classmates felt that he was going to be the valedictorian and some of the
people who were part of the school administration had confirmed with him that
he needed to start preparing his graduation speech. Mark became confident that he was going to be
valedictorian when the principal told him to write his speech.
Despite
the fact that everyone had told Mark that he was definitely a sure win to be
valedictorian, he never stopped working hard, because he did not want anything
to slip by him and cause him not to achieve this goal. Mark, Steve, and Kerr was called down to the
office and told that they were going to meet with the principal. The three young men looked at each other with
the understanding that they were the top three students of their graduating
class. Mark became bewildered when the
principal pulled out the spreadsheet and announced that Kerr was the
valedictorian and Steven and Mark was co-salutatorians. The principal then explain that the
calculations that determine who would become valedictorian only consisted of
grades and test from their final year. Mark questioned the legitimacy of the
calculations being only comprising of the final year grades and test. The principal began to explain that it would
have been too rigorous of a task to have calculated from the beginning of our
educational careers to the final year.
Upon
leaving the principal’s office Mark was very hurt and angry. He felt that he had been set up for
failure. When the three young men
reached the classroom, everyone thought that Mark was the valedictorian, but
was very surprised that he was not. Many
were happy to see Mark’s down fall, because everyone felt that he was arrogant,
this list included, but was limited to; students, teachers and even the
principal. Mark knew that many of his
classmates did not like him, but they could not deny that educational work was
always top notched. It was in this
moment that everything came into prospective, that he only had one friend. Some of his classmates had pretended to like
him, under the guise of receive academic assistance.
Mark
had to tell his family that he was not going to be valedictorian, but
co-salutatorian. This was a very hard
task, because Mark had told many people that he was the valedictorian, based
off the information that he had received prior to that day. He had family members and family friends
coming from out of town expecting to see him give that valedictorian
speech. Mark gathered his family into
the living room and told them about what had happen; everyone was upset, but
supportive.
The
more Mark thought about how everything had happen, he remembered little
comments that some of his teachers and principal had made to him: “You really
shouldn’t be so arrogant,” “That your down fall is eminent,” and “There is
going to come a time that you will fail and I hope you are strong enough to
pick yourself back up.” In Mark’s mind,
he felt that this was the farewell gift from his non-believers (the teachers
and administrators that had set traps before, but had failed). It was at this point that he decided that he
did not want to participate in the graduation ceremony.
Mark
went to his mother and told her that he did not want to participate in his
graduation ceremony. Mark’s mom could
not believe what she was hearing, she knew that Mark was hurting, but she also
knew that he would look back upon it later on in life and regret it. Mark’s mother was the type of mother that did
not believe in telling her children lies to make them feel better. She had made a promise to Mark when he was a
little boy, that before she lies to him, she would not say anything at
all. Now she was at a place where her
son was hurting and she could not change anything for him, she told Mark,
“Baby, I know that you are hurting now and you want to make the people that
hurt you hurt, but this is not the way.
Sometimes in life you are going to be faced with disappointment and this
is one of those times. You must rise to
the occasions, because anything that is meant for you to have, can’t anyone
take that away from you. You feel that
your light has been dimmed, because you are not valedictorian, being
valedictorian does not define who you are, you do. If it is meant for your light to shine, it
will shine regardless.”
At
first, Mark did not want to do what his mother was suggesting, but he knew that
the advice that she had given him so far in life, was on point, so he decided
to participate. Mark just wanted to let
the people who had mislead him know how he really felt about them, so began
writing his solitarian speech. Mark has
always had a way with words and he had so eloquently prepared a speech that
basically told the administrators and teachers of that school to kiss his… in
so many words. Every time his mother
asked to hear his speech he told her that it was not ready.
During
practice Kerr had repeated several times that he did not want to be the
valedictorian, like Mark’s mother Kerr’s mother made him take it. Mark had turned in a fake speech to the
people who were in charge of the graduation.
Everyone wanted to see his speech, because they knew that Mark had the gift
of gab, and he was good at controversial topics, and they did not want anything
in it about him not be valedictorian. They
were relieved when they read it and thought the speech was good. Mark just smiled at them and continued to
think about the real speech.
The Friday before the
graduation, Mark’s mother insisted on hearing his graduation speech, Mark could
no longer live the lie that he hadn’t written it, so he read the speech to his
family. His grandmother, aunt, uncle,
sisters cheered loudly, his mother cheered silently. Mark’s mother was proud that Mark had
powerfully articulated how he felt about what had happened to him. She had always told him, that people may not
agree with how you feel, but your feelings are your own and therefore you must
own them no matter what. Mark was
feeling good about what he had written, but when his family had given him a
round of applause and thunderous clapping he knew he had a winner, because his
family is a tough crowd, they are not easily impressed. His euphoria was short lived, Mark’s mother
told him that the speech was very good and she liked the fact that he was able
to tap into his true feelings, but the graduation would be the wrong forum to
deliver that particular speech.
Mark was very
disappointed and he explained to his mother that this was the speech he really
wanted to deliver. Mark’s mother told
him that she understood that he did want to deliver that speech, but you never
let people know that they have gotten to you and the speech is an admittance of
that. “Raise to the occasion my son;
glory will be yours if it is meant to be yours.” Mark had mixed emotions when he mother
challenged him is this way, because on that day he did not want to be the
bigger person, he just wanted revenge.
Mark was in conflict
with himself, he did not know what he really was going to do. All weekend he kept going back and forth with
himself about whether he should do what he wanted or if he should take the
advice of his mother. Many times he
asked himself, “Why couldn’t his mother be on board with him, why did she want him
to take the high road…Mark kept thinking, it is in these moments that the
decision that you make will determine your level of maturity and how people
will treat you after that moment. Mark
decided to write another speech, but he would not make a decision about what
speech he would give until the moment of delivery.
On Sunday, Mark read
his new speech to his family and everyone was proud, cheering and
clapping. After everyone had left the
room, Mark’s mother went to him and told him that she could not have been more proud
to be his mom after hearing such a wonderful speech. Mark confessed to his mom that he hadn’t
decided on which speech he would give on graduation day. She stated that she was sure that he would
give the right speech and she was not worried.
The day of graduation
was very chaotic everyone was running around making sure everything was in
order and ready to go. Mark had to be at
the school early and his mother wanted to make sure that he had copies of his
speeches, she told him not to fold them, because they would get wrinkle and be
ugly.
It was very hot on this
day and the air conditioning in the auditorium was not working. During the graduation people were talking and
not giving the graduates the respect that they needed. The co-salutatorian Steve rose to give his
speech and the audience could barely hear it, then Kerr the valedictorian gave
his speech and the audience remains somewhat noisy. Kerr’s mother was upset, because she knew
that the valedictorian was supposed to be the last speaker from the graduating
class, but Mark was.
When the MC announce
that Mark was giving his speech, one of the teachers told him that his speech
was on the podium, Mark stated no, I have it here and he pulled it out of his
jacket pocket. The teacher had a
horrifying look on her face, she did not know what to expect, because she had
not seen the new speech and did not know what Mark was about to say.
Mark began his speech, “Good
evening Class of 2016…” The auditorium was still kind of noisy, but as
Mark went on with his speech, the noise of the audience began to dissipate and
people started listening. At the ending
of the speech Mark had a standing ovation and people were cheering. Mark felt good and his mother was beaming
with proud, because he had made the right decision, he had chosen the right
speech.
In Mark’s mind the
graduation was over, but there was the honoring of the graduates. Mark received a trophy in every category that
was being honored, people wanted to know who was this kid and they begin
cheering his name every time it was called for an award. No other student was receiving the accolades
that Mark was. People was saying don’t
sit down Mark, because you know you are going to be getting back up. Mark thought that his family would be his
only fan base, but now he had a room full of his peers and strangers calling
out his name in praise.
After the ceremony,
Mark took pictures with his family and other people kept coming over congratulating
and take pictures with him, euphoria had returned Mark had received everything
he wanted and more. The words of his
mother could not have ranged louder; Mark was reminded that what God has in
stored for you, man cannot destroy or take away. It was in this moment, that Mark knew that
his life had changed and he would always try to approach any situation with a
cool head.
