Flowings of Your Everlasting Taffyman

Mabbot sent several of us this. Its a speech a teacher of his gave at a graduation ceremony.

"I must begin by first apologizing for the somber tone of this speech. I understand the normal celebratory nature of graduation, with family and friends gathered, presents distributed and bright dreams of the future dancing tantalizingly before your eyes. But, this is a fearful world we send you upon. No matter your political ideology, your religious dogma or personal ethic, these are indeed troubling times. Beyond the timeless issues that have consistently divided our country for decades (right to life and death, war, concepts of justice), beyond the specter of partisan bickering (stem cells, Iraq, judges), we live in a world where a child is assaulted and then left to die under a pile of garbage; where two teenage boys justified the brutal beating a homeless man by saying they were bored. Closer still...we belong to a community, a neighborhood, struggling for its very soul, torn between pride and development, violence and survival. Closer still...we live, work and learn in a school community still looking for closure, still healing from the pain of extreme betrayal perpetrated by one whom we trusted, we celebrated, we honored. The darkness of which I speak, the darkness that troubles me, is not merely symbolic. This darkness is not just metaphoric of what you may face in this life. This darkness does not just dwell in the suburbs of our hearts, this darkness is right outside our door, lingering in our homes and hanging out down the block, on the corner.

Of course, it would be arrogance to suggest that ours was the only time or place to experience the throngs of darkness. The annals of history are brim full with example after example of the evil men do. Yet, often times, the ancient past held the means to combat this enormous collective sorrow which hangs heavily on our souls. Unlike us, the ancients possessed the heroic myth. Like the darkness, these myths transcended simple symbolism. For our ancestors, the myth served as a tangible description of mankind at its bravest. More than mere stories of explanation, the heroic tale was a shout in the dark, a cry in the night, defiance in the face of overwhelming despair and disillusionment.

One of the most enduring of these epic tales comes to us in the form of the Greek myth of Prometheus. Prometheus is a Titan, one of the old gods who held sway over the Greek pantheon before they were usurped by Zeus and his siblings, and then sent into the pit of Tarturas. Prometheus actually helped Zeus with this regime change, betraying his own kind in the belief that this maneuver benefited everyone. Prometheus was sorely disappointed. No sooner had Zeus assumed power than he announced a plan to wipeout all of mankind. Zeus found humans to be weak, ineffectual, flawed. To him the only answer was extermination. Prometheus could not abide by this butchery. So, Prometheus stole the one great advantage the gods held over man, fire, and gave it to man. From fire, man was able to create ten thousand tools and could endure the fickle nature of their gods. For his part, Prometheus was punished by being chained to the top of a mountain to have his liver eaten by a giant eagle every morning for all of eternity. What makes this myth a tale of inspiration though, is not Prometheus' grand larceny skills, it is because Prometheus knew what was going to happen to him the whole while he did it. Prometheus' name, literally translated, means 'before thought'. In other words, Prometheus' divine power was the ability to know the future. And yet, despite his omniscience, Prometheus did what he thought was right. He fully understood the consequences of assisting Zeus, of stealing fire, of helping mankind, and he did it anyway. We admire Prometheus for his resolve, his resolve to do what he had to do, because he had to do it. Period.

Or, from another Greek legend, the Trojan War, we can imagine noble Hector. Hector has been challenged by the invincible Achilles. Hector knows he can not beat Achilles. Hector's people know he can not beat Achilles. Hector's wife knows he can not beat Achilles. Hector fights Achilles anyway. Of course, he ran from Achilles for half the day before stopping to fight, but in the end, he stood firm. That is the wonderfully nature of these myths, these heroes where fallible, they were not perfect, they were like us, but when it counted, when it became a necessity, these heroes rose and meet their destinies; they overcame their own weakness, and that is what it means to be heroic. And, it is because the heroes of these stories are like us that they should inspire us and challenge us to take a stand in our own lives and do what becomes necessary. And that is the challenge I present to you today, become your own hero, create your own myth, defy the dark, rise superior to your circumstances...rise superior to your circumstances. One of Socrates most famous aphorism is, “character determines destiny”. This is true. Your character will ultimately define your destiny. Yet, in these times, your character will not only create your own destiny, your destiny will become that of the neighborhood's, of the community's, of the school's. No matter your destiny, rise to meet it with honor and courage. Congratulations class of 2005, good fortunes on your journey. God speed. Namaste."