MANVILLE: Grads: Do the best for yourself and society

   What would you say if you were called to address a high school graduation?
   Very few of us get that chance.
   But if students asked, here’s what we’d say:
   We urge you to get involved in your community.
   We’d urge you to know your actions, even small ones, as individuals can have a direct impact on the larger puzzle of problems our society faces.
   Is it really important if you throw away one recyclable bottle? Or dump some nasty chemical down the drain just to get rid of it? Or be a little too apathetic to rouse yourself to cast a ballot Election Day?
   Yes.
   Is it really necessary to watch and read the news and to understand these boring politicians?
   You’ll see. Look at the deductions on your first paycheck or go to pay off your student loan or buy a house or run up a big medical bill or face fighting in the military; the answer will be obvious.
   Really, if any of you march out of your high school graduation without being registered to vote — even eager to vote — society has partially failed in bringing you up.
   We hope we’re talking to the next generation of citizens who give back to their community in ways large and small. If I’m in a traffic accident, I hope one of you rushes to treat my injuries. When I apply for permission to build a store, I hope some of you will judge my application.
   We hope to see you marching in parades, perhaps some of you in uniform, but others in firetrucks or members of service clubs, as Scout leaders or as coaches of kids sports teams.
   If you leave this ceremony, and all you are concerned about in college is who’s tapping the keg next weekend, we’re all doomed.
   We need you to exercise your obligations as a citizen of the country and of the planet.
   If you don’t exercise your collective voices, there are people who will out-shout and outspend you to your disadvantage.
   There are some things we’d urge.
    Travel for there’s few ways to understand other people’s thinking and motivations.
    Be open to change — it’s going to come faster than you can ever think. In your short lifetimes, the world has changed dramatically in the way it views terror and security.
   An oddity in the early 1990s, hybrid-engine cars are driven by thousands today, and electric ones will be here soon.
   Only a small percentage of people used cell phones in the year you were born; now we are tethered to them for information and pleasure.
   It’s annoying, but there’s a current radio commercial that winds up with, “Dude, that was so 42 seconds ago.”
   And change is only going to get faster.
    Give your attention to MSNBC as much as Fox and CNN. Don’t lock yourself into one perception of reality and reject all others without trying to understand a rival.
   Don’t lock yourself into one track of thinking, but look for common ground. It will be a characteristic you’ll find eminently useful in all facets of life and one we sorely need in our public discourse.
    Listen to everyone and accept what strikes true.
   Don’t dismiss anyone automatically, and bite your tongue until you know to whom you are speaking. Usually you’ll learn at least one thing from every person you meet.
   Don’t be afraid to give in when you’re wrong, and stand firm when you’re not.
   Here’s something we say all the time: “Communication has not been achieved until you know the message has been received.” You’ve probably learned that in dealing with your parents, and it’s true.
   But there’s also what could be called the Davy Crockett Rule. He once said, “Be always sure you are right — then go ahead.”
   There are two components to that statement, and we daresay the first premise is the more difficult.
   You’ll leave here tonight not only as a member of a high school graduation class, but as a young adult entering a fast-changing world of responsibilities and demands.
   Go and prepare to do your part to better that world as much as seek your own personal success.