A Valuable Twenty Minutes

I listened today to the keynote address at the convocation of the local college. At the beginning of the speech, the speaker announced that she was going to tell us several stories from her own life, stories about the "influencers" in her life. This she did, relating experiences of her educator father and her nurse mother. Not surprisingly, the speaker had followed in both their footsteps, first training as a nurse, and then becoming an educator herself, training future nurses. She told of one of the legacies of her father, who had taught in one-room school houses in Southern Alberta. Wherever he lived, he planted trees on the dry prairie. Besides the many lives he touched because, as teacher, he was central in the community, he left a wonderful legacy of green: today, forests grow where his plantings took root.

At first, it might have appeared that the speech was entirely self-centred. Ego-centric. Or worse yet, egotistical. But from the stories she told, she drew out important principles that apply to young people, working people, and people facing change in these uncertain times. Be honest. Work hard. Touch lives. Help others. Leave a legacy.

There are so many urgencies in our world, so many things that could be said to graduating classes as they launch themselves from one phase of their lives to the next. The environment. World peace. Financial responsibility.

Today, I heard another urgency--the great need to be mindful of our roots, of where we’ve come from, of those who have been influencers in our lives. Her charge to the graduates was this: take a moment today to think of those who have influenced you.

The logical follow-up is this: How are we influencing others?