Commencement Speech

Congratulations!

You started this and you finished it. Scripture tells us "not to despise the things of small beginnings."

Finishing is good! Bible also tells us that "the end of a thing is better than its beginning."

Starting is easy.

All of us can start a marathon.

·        Who can finish?

o   Can I?

o   Can you?

Chinese philosophers tells us the journey of 1,000 miles starts with a single step.

Nobody ever talks about how many steps are required.

·         1,760,000 steps to walk 1,000 miles.

·         Who takes step number 1.76Million?

·         Not very many people.

Lewis and Clark traveled 4,142 miles from St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia River.

·         They were gone for 863 days

·         Averaged just under 9 miles per day

·         7,289,920,000 steps from St. Louis to the Pacific.

o   7.289 BILLION steps

Fitbit 10,000 steps hardly compares!!

·         We all could start that journey. Who here today could finish it?

We are here celebrating that you finished something you started.

And that is reason to celebrate!!

Have you ever heard that the road to success is littered with good intentions?

·         I have and I often live there.

·         I always mean to do the right thing at the right time.

o   Many, most of the times I fall short.

o   How about you?

Lewis and Clark are two of my favorite people out of history. I’ve read the journals several times and they have impacted my life by the examples they set for all of us who follow.

·         Lewis signed all of his daily entries in his journal with, “Proceeding On.”

·         Over the years it has taken on great meaning for me and inspired me to keep going when I’ve been ready to quit.

·         What would have happened to the Captains and their men (and Sacajawea and her baby) had they stopped proceeding on?

·         They overcame every obstacle before them to successfully complete their mission.

·         A good question to be asked here is, “When was their mission complete?”

o   When they determined there was no continuous waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans?

o   When they reached the Pacific?

o   When they returned to St. Louis?

o   When they completed their reports to President Jefferson?

You all have begun a mission.

You have successfully completed a portion of it or you wouldn’t be in the room today.

What is next?

·         First, keep “Proceeding On!”

o   You can’t stop advancing if you want to achieve success and reach the Pacific Ocean.

o   Lewis and Clark had no concept of the Rocky Mountains before they set out.

§  As they approached them they knew they were gaining altitude and saw nothing but miles of snow covered mountains ahead of them.

§  They never indicated that they even thought about turning back. They continued to proceed on and conquered them.

·         Second, commit to working as a team and follow your leaders.

o   About now, 210 years ago the Captains were trying to determine which fork of the rivers before them was the Missouri and their path to the Pacific.

§  They spent as much time in one place as any along the journey, to be sure they made the right choice.

·         The success of the mission depended on it.

o   Although the men disagreed with the Captains, they replied in unity …. very cheerfully that they were ready to follow us any wher we thought proper to direct…

o   They had earlier said that they would complete the mission or die trying!

o   How committed are we to our work?

·         Third, do the work!

o   All success requires hard work!

§  Wisdom can help us keep sharp and be more effective, but even wisdom requires hard work.

o   Can you imagine hauling keel boats and later dugout canoes loaded with everything you need for a three year trip up the Missouri River until you can go no farther?

§  That’s what these guys did!

§  That is hard work!

o   At one point, about a month from now 210 years ago, the expedition encountered “the Greatest Sight” Meriwether Lewis ever beheld, The Great Falls of Montana.

§  Unfortunately, the Falls required a 26 mile portage around them and took almost a month.

·         From here to SE 8^th in Bellevue!

§  That was hard work!!!

§  But they did it!

o   How hard will we work next month?

·         Fourth, reach your goal.

o   At some point if you start, commit and follow and do the work you will reach your goal.

§  The men, woman and one child of the Corps of Discovery reached their goal of the Pacific Ocean.

o   How do we know if we reached a goal if we never set one?

§  You reached a goal today.

§  You started, committed, followed your instructors, did the work and are here today because you did.

·         Fifth, and finally, in today’s world, and even in yesterday’s world, you have to finish the paperwork, or make a report.

o   I don’t like paperwork. It is my greatest weakness.

o   But still we must do it.

o   Part of completing the journey for Lewis was to edit and produce his journals for President Jefferson. They were full of scientific, geographic and anthropologic information that would be useful to the rest of the nation and to those in charge.

o   Captain Clark created a map that was used for a long period of time before more exploration was completed to add to the information his map contained.

If you have started, committed, worked hard, stopped and not finished things in the past, are you beating yourself up for it? If so, now is a good time to stop.

Today, you started, committed, worked hard, reached your goal and finished the paperwork and received a reward!

Congratulations!!

This may very well be a small step on a long journey for you. If so, you, like Lewis and Clark, are in for a great adventure.

Set your next goal and Proceed On!