Sitting in biology class earlier this week, I realized that graduating takes a little bit of magic. As I attentively listened to the illustrious Papa Jack, our biology teacher, I couldn’t help but think about how amazing it is to be in the presence of a man who stands (well, sits behind his desk, actually) with years of knowledge, wisdom, and experience under his belt and yet still manages to crack corny jokes, sing crazy songs, and even belly laugh wholeheartedly at the silliest stories. Sitting in biology class earlier this week, I witnessed Papa Jack’s magic.
I’ve mentioned before that over the years, I’ve learned that speech and debate teaches one mastery of the things over which one does not have control. With graduation and growing up in general, it’s the same principle.
We inevitably try to control the things over which we do not have control. We try to slow down what little time we have left: our remaining days, our weeks, our months. We try to stop time from passing, the world from turning, our lives from changing.
Graduating means realizing that none of this can be done.
So, instead, we have to stop ourselves from growing up, from forgetting each other, from never looking back as we move on. And that, I believe, is the magic in graduating, in getting older, in living a life of fulfillment.
Papa Jack is just a bigger, wiser and more mature little kid. And he definitely acts like one. Sitting in the front row in biology class that day, I realized that all I really want to be is kinda like Papa Jack: older and wiser but still just as childlike, no matter what I end up doing or where I end up living. All I want is to make some magic as I grow up.
The passage of time is a straight line punctuated by the things that you do, the places you visit, and the people you meet in the moments of the seconds of the minutes of the hours of the days of the weeks of the months of the years of your life.
As is true with every year, BEDA(pril) is certainly one of these spikes in my straight line. As we near the end of our final BEDA(pril) as high schoolers, we realize more and more that we are also nearing the end of our time as high schoolers. Yikes. Time to start making some magic.
Tomorrow is the last day! Because it seems very fitting, because Kendall’s post was awesome, and because I’m generally an unoriginal biter, I am going to end BED(April) 2012 with a letter to my future self. I hope Future Jen appreciates it. She better.
Risks: 18
Hugs: 1
Current food cravings/obsessions: good bread
Playlist(s) on repeat: Well, just one song, really..."My Wish" by Rascal Flatts
0 comments!:
Post a Comment