The commencement address:

Good morning ladies and gentlemen (boys and girls). With divine inspiration guiding you, don’t give up on what to believe. This is a formative period of your life. Live it to serve humankind with dignity. Your sincere aspirations must be to do extraordinary things for yourself and for your community. Every day. Greater phases of life await you and yours.

The benediction:

Father, as we prepare to leave this place, may these graduates come to possess spiritual wisdom and guidance. Permit them to be representative of humankind of the highest order. May the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit grant these blessed requests. Amen.

Commencement addresses are laudatory comments made about graduates and the paths some took to reach this point. Speakers repeatedly congratulate them and their families for jobs well done. For those in attendance -- from eighth-graders going to the ninth grade to doctoral degree recipients -- the events rivet minds and souls. Much is expected of graduates at this refocused point of their lives.

The benediction is a spiritual blessing that consists of well wishes. For some graduates, life will appear seductively easy and smooth; for others, there will be both smooth and rough points awaiting them. Benedictions are gracious in that they extend to the hearers what they need to hear. Life after the benediction is what individuals choose to make of opportunities.

Wrote American poet Mark Van Doren (1894-1972): “There are two statements about human beings that are true: that all human beings are alike, and that all are different. On those two facts all human wisdom is founded.” So many choices; so many decisions to make; so many conflicting roads to travel. Which way, Lord; which way?

Seven suggestions are presented for your consideration in establishing and building momentum for ventures beyond the benediction:

1. Be thankful for all you have been blessed to receive, and be of a positive mind-set to be favored with an extension of these blessings. Also, be thankful for some of the rejections.

2. Keep learning. Absorb sufficiently in that learning is a lifetime endeavor. ‘Tis.

3. Trump adversity whenever, however and wherever it hits you. Trump adversity.

4. Develop a plan to visit Planet Earth. Travel the world to see distant people and places.

5. Embrace patience and perseverance, two concepts that are stumbling blocks for the young and old. Use patience and perseverance to maintain momentum toward cherished goals.

6. Meld aspects of deferred gratification into your life. Teach this to elementary school students. Invest in a retirement and/or savings plan immediately upon gaining employment.

7. Mediate and pray masterfully. Do this daily ... several times a day. In secret places, speak directly to your maker or deity. Feel very good about doing this.

The benediction is for religious and secular well wishes, well wishes that hearers need for a forward trajectory. Whatever the endeavors might be – breathing life into a personal relationship, dieting, reorganizing a company, increasing proficiency, etc., go forth and do well!

You may reach T&D Columnist Howard D. Hill, Ph.D., at www.educationconsultant@sc.rr.com.

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