say it again. and again. and again…
Wellesley High School English teacher David McCullough, Jr.’s faculty speech to the Class of 2012 : Some tastes to whet the appetite: RTWT.
…You are not special. You are not exceptional.
Contrary to what your u9 soccer trophy suggests, your glowing seventh grade report card, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, no matter how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in to save you… you’re nothing special.
…(Now, before you dash off and get your YOLO tattoo, let me point out the illogic of that trendy little expression–because you can and should live not merely once, but every day of your life. Rather than You Only Live Once, it should be You Live Only Once… but because YLOO doesn’t have the same ring, we shrug and decide it doesn’t matter.)…
YOLOLOL
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12 Comments!
I don’t get all the grief and hand wringing in the media.
The guy was spot freaking on.
You’re unique,
just like everyone else.
YODO
(What? Nah, ‘sokay. Nobody ever reads my uupdates, anyway.)
I tell my yoot friends that the hardest part of” fixing me ” was forgiving myself and getting over the regrets of my stupid behaviors ( not the mistakes…those are part of life ). I tell them to think hard and ask yourself ” might I regret this some day? ‘. it applies to tattoos AND other living things.
I’ve kept myself (mostly)out of “trouble,” Sondrak, by making decisions on the premise that my actions were being recorded as a movie for my parents and offspring to screen at a later date.
For my parents, to show them they did alright.
For my kids and grandkids, as an example.
Three cheers for McCullough!
Now if we could just get the majority of teachers to drive this home.
Oh Oh katzemeow!!! Shoes shoes!!! I wants me some!!! ILoo.I hardly ever go anywhere but I’d wear them around the house or maybe not wear them at all just keep them on the coffee table to look at.
I know right! I had to use this pair for an avatar cuz I’ve been lusting after them for like a year now, just haven’t saved up enough pennies yet to actually buy them.
katzemeow (6): Now if we could just get the majority of teachers to drive this home.
A majority of the teachers were raised on the nonsense he’s railing about. It is difficult, though not impossible, to rise above one’s upbringing. Especially if it is economically and socially advisable to stick with it.
Doug (2): Nobody ever reads my uupdates, anyway. Well, occasionally. ;-)
What’s really spectacular about this story is that Wellesley is a ‘high dollar’ progressive enclave in Massachusetts. It has 28,000 people residing in 27,000 sq. miles plus (4) colleges within it’s borders. Can’t imagine many homeless there.
Mr. McCullough, Jr. could not be reached for comment as he was in stocks at the village square.
Wellesley is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of Greater Boston. The population was 27,982 at the time of the 2010 census.[3] It is best known as the home of Wellesley College, Babson College, and a campus of Massachusetts Bay Community College. While most of Olin College, a private engineering school, is in the town of Wellesley, its main entrance is located in Needham, Massachusetts.
Waaa all those trophies I got just for being me and not for anything I earned don’t mean anything???
News reports say he was greeted with cheers and applause at the end.
To go all deep and philosophical: imagine yourself on your deathbed, thinking back over your life. What can you say that you’ve done?