Commencement Address
to Millbrook School, Class of 2002
Written and Delivered by Jody Morrison
May 31, 2002
This is a great day, and an important opportunity to
share with you one more time. I know this Millbrook Class
of 2002. You have shared with me in my greatest sorrow,
and we now share together again in great celebration.
Your celebration.
The joining again of this Class and me today exemplifies
life's most basic miracle. Leave be hurdles and crises,
accomplishments and successes, life continues to unleash
us. And the human spirit naturally responds in a direct
movement forward, to forge on, continue, grow, learn
and find joy in these things.
So it is with joy that I acknowledge the successes
that have brought you here today.
You move forward with three gifts in your pocket.
The first is your family. Your brilliance did not drop
upon you out of the sky, but is the direct manifestation
of those who love you, witness your person, and criticize
you along the way. They give support to your charms and
defense to your struggles. You family is what launches
your own individuality. Your family has made great sacrifice
for you in these past four years. Find time today to
thank them. It is important.
You have the gift of Millbrook School. An environment
meticulously designed to provide you a learning environment
that now becomes the platform from which your future
unfolds. Thank them in continued support in the years
ahead. It is important.
And the most powerful gift of all is you. You: the unique
individual whose "one voice" makes you irreplaceable
to all of the earth's population. You are ever so important.
With these gifts you step outside the protective umbrella
of your loving family, and the support of Millbrook School,
with your unique self into the front row of the arena
of this small world of ours.
And I believe it is a better world. This class and I
have experienced tragedy together, but we have also learned
from tragedy. Chelsea died. 9/11 was shocking. And we
have learned together that everything has a reason, and
through reason comes Divine Good. Good things can come
from tragedy. Good also comes from bad. Always.
Mark Twain made an observation that the human is the
only creature to be taught everyday how to become more
human. "Cows don't have to be taught how to be a
cow," he observed. Think of that: Birds just
go off and fly! But us beings that are human have a great
opportunity: by the very act of living each day, we can
become more human. What a great concept. What an opportunity!
And when you look at it that way, don't you sort of look
forward to each day? Each lesson? Each hurdle? Don't
the hurdles of everyday life themselves become opportunities?
They are. That is exactly what a hurdle is.
I believe that each hurdle I confront is a point on
the map of my own personal destiny. I believe that they
are life's way of bringing me back onto the path I belong.
I believe that each hurdle is an opportunity.
You will encounter hurdles by the very act of living
a full life. They come every day. For many of you, this
may be the idea that you are about to leave home, or
enter college with absolutely no idea of a major in mind.
It could be the tug of a needy friend, just when you
are hitting your stride, or the need of an ear just
when you thought you were about as independent as possible.
It's those times when you realize - almost against your
will - the difference between your easy wants and your
true needs. For me, it is usually when I am so sure that
I am standing in the exact place I planned, and then
the universe conspires to put me on foreign territory.
A hurdle is usually when you need to make a choice. It's
always when you need to make a change.
Some are simple, some more difficult. But I have made
the choice to believe my hurdles are mine. And if I own
them, truly believe these obstacles are the pivots of
my destiny, the growing of my character, I can approach
them with ease. They are not cement walls. I can stop
and view the hurdle clearly. No need to avoid, for fear
of losing opportunity. No need to shimmy around it, nor
take a blind eye. The bottom line becomes, not whether
I can jump the hurdle, but how gracefully can I get over
it?
Grace. With desire to take my hurdles gracefully, a
remarkable effect is imposed on both my process and the
end result. Choosing to gracefully overcome my hurdles
removes any notion of blame to others. Anger dissolves,
and there is no room for pity to my circumstances. It
is my hurdle. While focusing on my own ability, my own
responsibility, to take my hurdles gracefully, an unshakable
strength, a firmness of mind settles in. My hurdles become
the fertile ground to challenge my purpose, my beliefs,
and to strengthen those things.
Even in the worst of circumstances, I promise you will
have a profound sense that you have just cleared a hurdle.
With grace, you have pivoted in the direction of your
life path, read the road signs, and taken a lesson meant
only for you. By taking your hurdles with grace, you
will never live is a state of "dis-grace."
And while I would never wish this upon you, you can
probably assume that at least once in your life, you
will not be looking at a hurdle, but at a crisis. A frightening
and overwhelming event. Becoming a world class hurdling
athlete will not make you immune. It happened to me.
It happened to New York City. It happened to the United
States of America. And we have learned, where grace is
used, there is a redefining, a new resolve, an inner
strength. Good can come from crisis.
The Chinese, whose centuries-old written language provides
astounding wisdom, offers a great support for their concept
of "crisis." Their language, written in characters,
has an interesting translation of the word "crisis." It
is written in the form of combining two characters, one
above the other. If you isolate the top character, it
literally translates into "danger." When you
isolate the second, lower character just below, it translates
as "opportunity." "Crisis" equals "danger" plus "opportunity." And
there is that word again.
If you remember just one thing I say today, I hope it
is this: God created you in His image. You are the creator.
Remember the three gifts in your pocket. Your family,
Millbrook School and your unique self, and blend them
always to create your voice. You are a creator! and the
power of your voice can make this a better world.
I know this is true. It happened to me.
In the end, I am just "Jody." I have no more
talent or tool than each of you. There is no profit for
me in working to eliminate the conditions that caused
guaranteed death on a 104-mile roadway that I will never
use. But it is my responsibility to use my voice. One
voice. It really just comes down to a few things in my
pocket: my family, my education and my uniqueness that
leads to my successes.
A quick story: I wrote a letter to Mayor Guiliani of
NYC requesting that he acknowledge the two young policemen
who came to my door that Sunday afternoon, as no person
can be trained to have such compassion and kindness as
those two men had for me. I don't know why I did it.
I just did. And I forgot about it.
Almost a year later, I received a call from a stranger
who asked if I was the mother who wrote the letter. After
a few check points in the introduction of the conversation,
she bursted, "I found you! I found you!" Do
you know that your letter is in the back offices of
every police precinct throughout NYC? Do you know that
the Chief of Police in Brooklyn has kept a copy of that
letter in his wallet every day since he read it?
That he has handed out hundreds of copies? Do you know
that that letter has been read at the graduation of cadets
into the Police Force?" I did not. But I knew one
thing. The power of "one voice" can change
others forever.
And yes, there will hurdles, and there may be crises,
but with focus on these being the pivots of your own
life map, and a personal grace activated, your deepest
struggles will become your greatest strength.
Don't ever be so taken with your successes, or so drowned
by your failures that you loose sight of your three gifts.
They are there in your pocket. They always will be.
They are your power. They give you your voice.
And this is why emotions run so high this morning. This
is the excitement that reverberates today. Each of you
now steps out into this new world, with the power of
your "one voice." And we all honor you as we
stand in awe of your potential. Today, each of you begins
your own unique journey with your three gifts, your one
voice. It is important.
My wish for you in joy, always you... and Grace in your
life.
Congratulations, Millbrook Class of 2002.
This is a great day. |