Graduation Speech

I went to my sister's graduation yesterday, and I had a lot of thoughts running through my head. First I was thinking, "How is Sophie going to make it through this," and then I thought, "Wow, I'm getting really old - what have I done with my life since graduation?"
I vaguely remember my graduation day. I think I was playing Tetris. I ate food with my family. Then I left for Lake Powell and watched my friend rear-end a car that was stopped at a red light.
Since that day, I'm not sure if I've really lived up to the potential that everybody told me I had that day. I don't know if anybody can. Apparently the room was full of lawyers and doctors and engineers. All I saw was a bunch of kids who were excited to move on to adulthood. Fools. If only they knew... I would've stayed eighteen for eighteen more years.
If I could speak at graduation this is how it would go:
"Wow. For some of you this is a really big deal to be graduating from high school. Some may see this as a great accomplishment, and others may see it as an exciting step into the real world, and having been in your position, I would feel the same. But I'm sure future-you would tell you a different story.
"Future-you may commend you for not falling into the traps of drugs, alcohol, crime, and emotional despair that may have kept you from graduating. But future-you is a fickle friend, and won't let you get off easy - there is plenty you need to know to help future-you improve his life. He would probably agree with the advice I'm going to give.

"If you find a good teacher (in any form) stay close to them. They are important and often hard to come by - often the lowest paid are the best."
"Life is going to be a lot of work and a lot of tough decisions. Day after day. Most of the time you just have to keep on keeping on.
"The rest of life is going to be complicated, confusing, and crazy - and most people make it through just fine.

The above speech would likely put a damper on any graduation. But my life since then has been a lot of hard work. The only thing that will take a high school graduate to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or whatever else they may want, is that individual's approach to each day. Thomas Edison said that you can judge a man by how he views his alarm clock.
Some broader advice - When life rains, rather than looking for sunny weather and trying to stay dry, it is better to learn how to play in the rain and find a good puddle. If it rains enough, build a dam.