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Graduation Speech - July 6, 2005
This space has been dedicated to the speech that Charles Feghali (Class of 1971) has given as his Address to the graduating class of Saint Joseph School. [July 6, 2005]
Address to the graduating class of Saint Joseph School July 6, 2005, Cornet Chahwan, Lebanon
Ladies and gentlemen, parents, grand parents, teachers, fellow alumni, and especially the class of 2005. It’s a great pleasure to be here.
Today is a celebration of your learning, your past, and your future. We must note that you did not arrive at this point alone: your families, friends, and faculty who have helped, taught, and supported you through these years should be recognized, too. Please stand up and say very loudly, “Thank you.”
Being with you at St. Joseph School, brings back fond and passionate memories. In 1971, I was in one of the first classes to graduate from this school. At that time, we had no graduation ceremony. But, like you today, we had been prepared by loving and caring people, to embark on the wonders of the future. The future held great promise, but we had no idea what lay ahead on the horizons. Much of what happened was beyond the scope of our dreams: The turmoil of civil war here at home.
The fall of the Soviet Union,
The proliferation of Personal Computers
The birth of the Internet and the World Wide Web.
Satellite television,
cell phones,
And the globalization of just about everything.
However, furthest beyond my dreams, was girls attending St. Joseph school! So many things have changed for the better in the last thirty-four years!
Yet, the basics remain the same. As was the case with me, your years at St. Joseph’s were not only educational, but also ones that shaped you in more ways than you are aware. This will become more and more obvious to you as time passes. These were years of character building and development; the years that will contribute heavily to the person you are to become.
I will never forget the night I hid behind the chair “bil salon.” The night Mutran Farah came to visit my father to tell him that his vision of a new school was coming to fruition and that he would like me to be among the first students. As a nine year old boy, my legs wobbled while I held my breath waiting for my father to answer. How I prayed that his answer would be, “No.” For certainly, a boy my age could not be expected to leave the comfort and security of home. It was all I could do to keep from yelling out when I heard his answer.
My legs again wobbled, the day I stood in front of what seemed to be a row of endless beds, dormetoir. Little did I know that I stood on the brink of what was a Maronite visionary’s glimpse of the future. Mutran Farah had gone against the tide of his time and gambled on the future belonging to the world of the English Language and the emergence of American dominance. He departed from the popular thought of the day and switched not only from the traditional French language but also from that culture. He brought in American brothers to teach and solidify his plan.
We were the “guinea pigs”. The variables in the experiment kept changing, but the hypothesis did not. Dorm structures were changed, boy scout meetings and locations were moved around, rules rotated. But somehow, Fasoulia bi riz must have been part of the hypothesis, because the menu in the cafeteria remained the same over the years.
You have just spent many formative years in this institution, and no doubt, you are ready to move on. But is it over? No. That is why it is called “commencement.” With the skills and tools you now have, you are prepared to learn even more. You may feel a sense of relief to “have it over” but your learning is really just beginning. You have learned how to ask questions, how to question others, you have had to learn numerous facts and numbers, but the most important part of your experience here is the preparation for learning even more after you leave. You are prepared to face the experience of discovering the world around us.
Now, as we celebrate your graduation, we all know that it is not easy to get through school. (For me, unending days of fasoulia bi riz, were daunting.) No doubt you have had your personal challenges. Learning how to make the hard choices, learning when to study and when to say, “No,” can be difficult. This type of learning is universal for all people during the high school years. We must all face some challenges. Otherwise our characters would never develop.
The following story offers a small explanation of the need for challenges in our lives:
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no further.
Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.
Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If nature allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been.”
The real mark of your character comes from not how you react to your successes, of which I am sure there will be many, but rather how you react to your failures and struggles. If you are not timid, you will seek new mountains to climb, and face a few stumbling blocks. Today, you are armed with knowledge, and better yet, the tools to gain further knowledge. Be brave and face the world with your skills. None of us are perfect, but learn to make the most of your strengths and failings.
The future turns out to be something you make, rather than find. It isn’t waiting for your arrival. The future is an empty canvas or a blank sheet of paper ready for you to make of it what you will. We all have twenty-four hours in a day. Nobody has 25 hours. We spend a good part of it sleeping and eating, probably ten hours total—that leaves you fourteen hours each day to make a difference in your life, your family’s lives, your community, your workplace. What can you give to others and yourself in those hours? How will you make the world a better place to live? How will you shape the future? What will you give back to your community? All we have is 14 hours.
Graduating class of 2005, I want to leave you with one phrase to remember as you move on to new horizons. Your bookmark will serve as a reminder.
“Be true to life.”
T—for time: You have those 14 hours each day. Make even your mistakes count. Those who make use of their time are those who will make a difference in this world.
R—for remember: Always remember this great country of ours, remember to give back
U—for understanding: remain tolerant, always attempt to understand others, be respectful of their ideas and beliefs
E—for excitement: celebrate the fun of life
L—for learning: continue your learning – never stop seeking knowledge.
I—for interest: never lose that sense of curiosity.
F—for faith: never lose sight of its significance and meaning in your life E—for excellence: settle for nothing less.
Believe in yourself, and always have a dream for you are blessed with a Saint Joseph’s School education and foundation.
Thank you, and may God bless you all and bless an independent Lebanon.
Congratulations!
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