Class of 2009, today we have come together as classmates one final time to reflect on and celebrate our accomplishments over the past four years. It has been a tumultuous ride, but without a doubt, we as a class have risen up to be true leaders of Aragon High School, and we now stand on the precipice of our future. And if you’re like me, you’re probably very unsure of what is going to come next.

A few years ago, I had the privilege to meet a gentleman by the name of Dr. Kent Keith. In 1968, as a college student, he wrote ten so-called “paradoxical commandments” for student leaders that have since been quoted hundreds of times by many public speakers for their inspiration and encouragement to do the right thing in life, regardless of whether it’s the popular thing to do. This is what he wrote:

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

Class of 2009, as we depart from this theater today, we will begin a new chapter in our lives, and each of us will traverse down many different paths moving forward. Some of us will be going across the country or around the world to continue our education, while others of us will be going across the state or just staying local to do so. A few of us will instead join the armed forces or hit the ground running into the workforce.

But regardless of the direction that our path takes us, each one of us has the power and the opportunity to make a difference for others. We as a class have already contributed so much to our school and our community. Many of us have stepped up and donated blood through school blood drives to help save lives. Several students from this class stepped up and led the school in taking monumental steps to reduce our environmental footprint, from recycling our cans and bottles to aggressively lobbying for the installation of solar panels that will likely be installed on our campus very soon. Students from this class have helped promote awareness of the crisis in Darfur and led monumental efforts to raise money to help the people affected in that region, despite the daunting obstacle of a recession economy here at home. No adult asked us to take on these challenges and others, but we took the initiative and contributed our time and our efforts to make these happen. As you can see, Aragon has been a central part of the San Mateo community because of the qualities that we, the students of Aragon, have brought to make our school more than just a bunch of classrooms, graduation requirements, and homework.

My favorite quote comes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and it says: “Every [person] must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of selfishness. This is the judgment. Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” Each of us will now need to decide for ourselves what we want to do with our lives, and what we want our contribution to society to be. No one can hold our hands and give us the answers any longer. But if we each remember that we have the power, in our own unique way, to make a difference in the lives of others, then we will have truly become the change that we wish to see in the world.

Class of 2009, let us all commit ourselves to give the world the best that we have. And even if we get kicked in the teeth, let’s give the world the best we have anyway. Thank you.