It happens every spring: High schools and colleges look for someone wise and inspiring to give the commencement speech. Then the wise, inspiring person comes up with an interesting, unique way to present what amounts to a Broadway musical songbook: Climb Every Mountain, No Man Is an Island, You’ll Never Walk Alone, The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow, Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’, Everything’s Coming Up Roses, With a Little Bit of Luck and, when you get really, really old, Try to Remember and, a while after that, The Party’s Over.
May we make a small commencement suggestion?
Yes, when you graduate from high school, everything seems possible. You emerge from that school cocoon and you’re ready to fly. To soar, even.
But in truth, we learn that most lives are not lived on a grand scale. The little things are what will occupy us, and what generally matter the most. Can we make enough money to live on? Can we find work we like? Can we find a decent place to live? Can we find love and, if we find it, can we keep it?
None of that involves saving the planet, making the world safe for democracy, or finding the cure for cancer. Rather, they involve finding a way to grow into decent, honest, hard-working human beings who, inch by inch, make the community a little bit better.
Let’s resort to a football analogy. If you throw one long pass after another after another, hoping for touchdown after touchdown, you’ll lose. You need balance, and a lot of dirty work, to succeed. Big, anonymous guys have to push other big, anonymous guys out of the way. You need to advance the ball however you can — 3-yard runs or 6-yard passes — and draw in the defense before you can try — try — to throw the long ball and get close to the end zone. Odds are, the long ball won’t work and you’ll have to go back to the hard work of moving the ball a little at a time.
Most of life is like that. Not everyone will be great. Not everyone will achieve great things. Not everyone will be a household name. Not everyone will be chosen for a Hall of Fame.
Instead, life is a series of small tests. Pay attention, work hard, don’t give up, and you can pass this small test, and then the next one. You build your life one small block at a time. You become someone you’re happy to be. And, in that little niche you built for yourself, you can excel. For most of us, only a few people may notice, but that’s OK, because most likely, those are the people who matter most.
That’s the point at which you can throw the long ball. Build first. Make a life. Only then can you really make something of it. You could fail — but you’ll be standing on a strong foundation.
Solar dreams
Congratulations to Stowe voters — OK, congratulations to the 136 Stowe voters who actually cast ballots — for deciding to support the town government’s solar plans. But the town cut it really close. Wednesday was the deadline for applying for a zero-interest loan of up to $3.5 million to pay for a 1-megawatt solar farm in Nebraska Valley, on a now-closed portion of the town gravel pit.
Vermont adopted more stringent renewable energy mandates this year, putting pressure on communities to start producing their own power, not just buying it from elsewhere. If they don’t, then they could face penalties.
“Doing nothing is the easiest thing to do, but it’s also the most expensive,” said Kevin Weishaar, the Stowe Electric Department’s controller.
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