Valedictum by Edward Teddy Andrews 2000
I have often been told that I mumble. With this in mind, I ask whatever Muses, and God, to allow my voice to carry clearly. I beg you all to be patient, and listen attentively as I make peace, and discuss the future of the class of 2000.
Firstly, Thank You. Thank you, so much. Thank you to those who organized and effected this fantastic day. Thank you to the faculty, to the teachers who put knowledge in our heads, by any means necessary. Thank you for helping us to our successes and loving us amongst our flaws. We have not respected you, we have not told you how much you, each and every, mean to us - these are sentiments which cannot be expressed at once, not here, but will be, in the phone calls and letters through the years, ~j telling you how right and how helpful you were and are. s Thank you to the families and friends who have traveled here, who have committed themselves to our commencement. Thank you to the underformers mustered here, wearing your hands out with clapping at this culmination, at this celebration of your peers. Thank you to St. Mark's, its spirit, and Mr. Burnett. We thank you all, because we are products of your timeless, unknown, unacknowledged effort, and we are glad to make you proud.
On this day we come into our own; we face a new horizon, a future which will not be held up by our parents or any previous people - tomorrow, and every day afterwards, are days for us, days we own. I don't speak for American youth, or generation Z, or anybody other than the 80+ people who are assembled here for graduation. We are the ones who will be making the atom bombs of tomorrow, the ones protesting their existence, the ones deciding their use. We are the makers of new laws, the founders of new companies, the leaders of new movements, we are every bit of the future. This isn't a sermon, a homily, or a confession; it is our declaration, the manifesto of the class of 2000. It's a simple message: there is now a new millenium, and it is ours.
Today is a resolution, in two senses of the word: we are resolving our past, finding closure in diplomas, bouteniers, and white pants, thanks, tears, and hastily signed yearbooks; we are resolving our future, understanding and now seeing clearly the responsibilities and duties, the freedoms and chances that are finally ours. We cannot repay you for giving us this opportunity, for raising us. Thankfully, you understand this: your repayment is the sight of us acting independent of your wishes, making choices between right and wrong, as complete human beings.
Since we happen to be on the subject of complete human beings, here is a saying - there's always a saying, but this one's really good: "knowledge without goodness is dangerous, and goodness without knowledge is weak." We could strip 'Age Quod Agis' from the doorways and gates and replace it with this saying, because the true intent of St. Mark's is not to have us simply 'do what we do', but to forge us as those who will contribute, both mentally and morally. Knowledge and goodness: either is not good enough, only with both qualities can we realize our manifest destiny. You, underformer, who crams and grinds, or brags about how you can get good grades without effort, turn from your studies and conceit and look to your fellow student. You, underformer, glad to be the resident shoulder and source of comfort in the dorm, look to yourself and cultivate your own strengths, rather than spending yourself entirely on others - if you are not strong yourself, how can you support another? Selfishness is often rewarded, and selflessness is often praised - but to be a three-dimensional person, with something resembling an identity, you must strike a balance; you must have wisdom and grace, you must find a middle path.
You can leave now - use the bathroom, or check mail, or whatever: I've made my points: knowledge and goodness are key, and we have them in spades; we are grateful for your help, we cannot repay it, so we move to our own future, the ultimate graduation present. I've said some things to our inheritors advice that was just my opinion, but which was also correct. I would now like to talk about the philosophy I just shouted out, and how it relates to St. Mark's. Remember: kindness, goodness, independence.
St. Mark's is a dream, not a nightmare. There is a vision, which can be seen out the corner of one's eye, disappearing when looked at directly. There is a word, which whispers in our mouths, silenced if spoken. This is the same hope that the puritans espoused, before destroying themselves with hypocrisy and accusations, it is the same hope we have here: the concept of a more perfect world.
St. Mark's does not exist because it makes people money - I'm sure that no matter how many Capital Campaigns are waged, there must be easier ways to make a dollar. Nor does St. Mark's exist wholly for us; we are educated and filled with wisdom, but for a greater purpose. We are, to St. Mark's, mere tools for an overriding goal; we are the infantry in a war for reality.
Mistrust, lies, harassment, greed, spite, dishonor, gluttony, disbelief, and every other spitting word: these are constant factors in the 'real world', and present in the school here, at every level possible. This is human frailty, however, and it can be fought, it can be beaten. This isn't the plot of Lord of the Rings, or Starship troopers, or Mortal Kombat, and I'm sorry to make it sound so dramatic, but it is. Mr. Burnett's vision, whether he realized it or not, has resulted in a school, an environment where knowledge is cultivated more often than not, where goodness is sometimes rewarded - all this in the face of a world where honesty is a miracle, where hate is rampant, where baseless accusations are more often the norm.
As we and you head out this afternoon, to parties, and homes, and dorms, studying for endyear exams, we carry St. Mark's with us. Because St. Mark's is not the buildings, or the cheers, or the administration; it is not work program, or fifth form dances, or sixth form dances, or textbooks, or dried up ponds, or the hissing geese, or blah, or blah, or blah. It is what we do, under the influence of knowledge, infected with morality. We grew, we learned, we chose, all here; now the diaspora begins, now we are buckshot, fired into the real world. I've made my point, and talked too long. That's it. Let's go.