Graduating class speaker Ann Duginske, a marketing major and journalism minor from Green Bay, urged her peers to stop, realize and appreciate while moving into the future at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s afternoon commencement ceremony May 14.
Here is a transcript of her speech:
“Thank you, Chancellor Wells, and welcome honored guests, family, friends, professors and graduates.
“‘I have to finish packing… how am I ever going to get everything moved?’
“‘I am so worried. What is she going to do come next week? She doesn’t have a job. She has to move home. What will that mean for our family?’
“And of course … The ‘I can’t wait to get out of here and go to that party tonight!’
“What’s running through your head?
“To-do lists, future hopes, future fears, past mistakes and past difficulties… our minds are full as we sit together in this gymnasium. Graduates, parents, grandparents, professors, loved ones and friends, quiet these tensions in your mind – tensions that are caused from demanding expectations – and stop to live in this moment.
“Graduates, on this day, your graduation day, allow yourselves to stop and live in the full presence of now. Look around you. Look to your left, look to your right, look behind you, look in front of you. Feel the pride of your loved ones in the room, see the happiness on the faces of our teachers and leaders, and realize the hope inside your heart for what tomorrow will bring. Feel the gown on your back, notice the pleasant weight of that funny hat. Revel in the triumph of your successful voyage through the rough seas of your college career.
“These rough seas made it difficult for me to live in the present sometimes.
“In fact, just three springs ago, I was sitting in the Oshkosh Student Association office filling in my planner for the coming week. As I am sure all of the graduates here have gotten very familiar with their planners and to-do lists for the past few weeks leading up to graduation. But, since the start of college, I had gotten very creative with my planner. Everything was in there. Life was a whirlwind of jobs, deadlines, worries and my planner was my lifeline. I survived from minute to minute because I had bulleted points in different color highlighters under the to-do section for each day.
“A different highlighter color for each subject, job and priority level, of course. I was looking at Tuesday. I started listing hour by hour, when I went to add in something new, which of course, required a new highlighter color. I reached into my bag. I didn’t have any more colors. The bright pink for school stuff was used, lime green for job number one, yellow for homework assignments, orange for personal and bills, blue for my internship and purple for deadlines. I panicked! If I didn’t have a new color it would mess up the whole list: I will forget to do it! I would never remember it.
“I was lost, whirling in my anxiety, until I looked up. I realized someone had been trying to ask me a question. I didn’t even notice they were there!
“It was at that moment that I realized I couldn’t live like this! My to-do list had become my commandment, so much so that I didn’t even notice there were people in a room with me. I wasn’t living; I was planning to live someday. I didn’t even know where I was at any given moment. I was lost between the push and pull of the two opposite forces of the past and future, with only anxiety as my companion.
“As Henry David Thoreau explained: “You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.”
“Everyone, do not be that fool. Stop, realize and appreciate. Yes, there are problems outside of this gymnasium. Problems we seem to have no control over, things are not what we expected, leaders are unable to compromise, natural disasters occur almost daily it seems, and in places all around the world, people are fighting for freedom, and on top of it all, problems close to home like the uncertain economy and unstable jobs are too much to bear sometimes.
“But, if we just stop, realize and appreciate our present moments, we may be able to finally see beauty even in these harsh realities. Like how every tragedy, every loss, every obstacle, brings people together and exposes the civility and care we have for those around us. Even when you lose someone, the people you still have come to support you so much so that you realize in the end you have actually gained something: the awareness that people care.
“But you ask, how do I live in the now? I don’t even know where to start. My answer, my way to release myself from the binds of highlighters, worries, doubts, demanding deadlines was a practice called ‘This is…’
“When you find yourself worried about your future, scared about change and the unknown, stop, realize your present position and appreciate where you are.
“Say: ‘This is…’ ‘This is me breathing’ ‘This is me focusing on this task.’ ‘This is me knowing that I will finish this.’ and ‘This is me knowing that tomorrow will come.’ ‘This is me breathing.’
“Feel the calmness and confidence that comes with these words. You’re giving orders to your mind to actively focus on what you are doing and only that. Then you will move on to the next task and complete that one, and the next and the next and the next.
“As simple as this practice seems, it will allow you to savor your reality, appreciate who you are, realize where you are and be confident in where you are going.
“Remember, ‘This is…’
“Together, everyone. This is us rejoicing in the sensations of true accomplishment. This is you knowing you will succeed in your future. This is you loving your child for the strength it took them to get to this point. This is you, grateful to your parents, families and professors for their support.
“This is us, stopping to breathe, realizing our present moment of being here in this room on this special day and appreciating the beauty of this day together.
“Class of 2011, I wish you the best in all of your future present moments, and leave you with a few words from Lao Zu to help you appreciate right now:
“‘Be content with what you have;
Rejoice in the way things are.
When you do this, you will realize there is nothing lacking,
and the whole world belongs to you.’
“Congratulations graduates! We did it!”
Read more about spring 2011 commencement:
- UW Oshkosh commencement website
- VIDEO: UWO grads get ready ‘backstage’ for spring Commencement
- Thirteen honored with Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence
- Class speakers to focus on perseverance, appreciation
- UW Oshkosh nurse grad’s path follows decade’s headlines
- Graduating senior secures job, looks to the future
- Passion for science drives future teacher
- Innovative leaders to receive honorary doctorates
- Student finds success the second time around