The Coming of Commencement…

The coming of each commencement calls to mind the passing of another year so swiftly and so soon and suggests once more to all of us that we ought to start early to do what we ought to be doing. A student cannot always soon decide what he may wish to do for the rest of his life, but even if he hasn’t decided on a final pursuit, he can always have some good goal in sight and be preparing himself for something sound and solid. No road leads nowhere, and no beginning goes nowhere. And just because we haven’t decided what we want to be is no reason why we should act as if we weren’t going to be anything! We ought to be on our way.

Another thought that comes at commencement is this: that no one, young or old, should ever leave learning behind. No matter what classes we complete, no matter what degrees we acquire, no matter what school doors we walk out of, no matter what occupations we walk into, we should always keep an earnest and active interest in the world we live in, in the people we live with and in all the best of what is now known and in what will yet be discovered and revealed and made known.

The world is not static. Processes are constantly improved. Discovery is ever adding and revealing heretofore unknown knowledge, and anyone who leaves learning behind, will find himself farther and farther behind for the destiny of man is limitless and everlasting. “Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.” And the more a man learns of truth, the better prepared he will be hereafter if conceit of learning doesn’t lead him into stubborn error and false philosophies.

This brings us to a final comment on commencement: No matter how much we know, no matter what credits we acquire, no matter what courses we complete, what we know is an infinitely small part of all there is to know. Textbooks will change; theories will be set aside; processes will be improved and we should keep our minds open to truth, free for the search, with humility before Him who gave us life, who reveals all truth, and who keeps creation in its course. Humility is especially becoming at commencement.