![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.pindelski.org\/Blog2\/BIS_commencement.jpg\")
\nWinston graduates. Panny GX7, 45-200mm at full chat.<\/i><\/center><\/p>\n
Here’s what should have been said:<\/p>\n
\n“Graduates! \u00c2\u00a0Congratulations!<\/p>\n
Each of you is the beneficiary of the finest public schooling there is to be had. My son Winston is fortunate indeed to be amongst your number today.<\/p>\n
But today, rather than building on your warm feelings of success and relief at having survived these past three years, I want to speak to you about but two things: \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Risk and Success.<\/p>\n
Risk is about making a decision where the outcome is uncertain or unknown. \u00c2\u00a0It’s about doing what you believe in and hang the consequences. \u00c2\u00a0Only if you take Risk will you live a full life, one to be proud of. \u00c2\u00a0Taking Risk is not about winning or beating the other guy. \u00c2\u00a0It’s about having the courage to fail and fail you will often in your long lives. \u00c2\u00a0 You will all fail many times but accepting and taking Risk will make those lives full and successful. \u00c2\u00a0And only by taking Risks can you Succeed.<\/p>\n
A life devoid of Risk is existing, not living, \u00c2\u00a0Do what you believe in, have a passion for that belief and you will come out a winner in the game of life.<\/p>\n
Each one of you has some hidden set of skills superior to everyone else in this wonderful audience today. \u00c2\u00a0Yet, if you take no Risk, if you dare not fail, those skills will remain buried and you will not enjoy a life well lived.<\/p>\n
When Winston Churchill, having just won the War and lost the Election, returned to his High School to give the Commencement Address, the hallowed hall at Harrow School was packed to the rafters. Winston had barely scraped a passing grade from Harrow some 60 years earlier.\u00c2\u00a0“We have come to hear Winston speak” they all said to a man.<\/p>\n
Churchill arose, walked portentously to the dais, and gave the shortest speech of his life.<\/p>\n
“Never, never, never give up”.<\/p>\n
Then he sat down ….<\/p>\n
He had taken massive Risks in his political life. \u00c2\u00a0He had made equally massive errors. \u00c2\u00a0He had failed so many times that most of his contemporaries had written him off. \u00c2\u00a0Then he took one more Risk. \u00c2\u00a0Appointed Prime Minister in 1940 he Risked all in his faith in the British and American people. \u00c2\u00a0With a British father and an American mother, no leader was better suited to the task of defeating Nazism, the greatest evil\u00c2\u00a0of the past century. \u00c2\u00a0Had he not taken that Risk, Success would not have been his and we would all be speaking German today. \u00c2\u00a0Winston succeeded.<\/p>\n
Let me share with you some thoughts about Success.<\/p>\n
Success is not about money. \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
It is not about power. \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
It is not about wealth or possessions. \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Success is\u00c2\u00a0doing the very best with the many talents you, as a member of the human race, have been endowed with.<\/i><\/p>\n
The divine spark which will make you a Success resides in every one of you. \u00c2\u00a0Light the fire. \u00c2\u00a0Let it burn!<\/p>\n
Go out into the world, take Risks, do your best and never, never, never give up. \u00c2\u00a0And Success will be yours.”
\n<\/b><\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.pindelski.org\/Blog2\/BIS_Commencement2.jpg\")
\nWinnie bids <\/i>adieu to his favorite teacher.<\/i><\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The address not given. Quite the worst part of my son’s middle school Commencement ceremony yesterday was the execrable address given by the Principal. Laced with the usual platitudes about equality and inclusiveness, it was an exercise in toeing the party line …. and saying nothing at all. Winston graduates. Panny GX7, 45-200mm at full … Continue reading Commencement Day<\/span>