I want to thank the Class of 2001 for this incredible honor! Ever since your class President Patti Tiner called me to tell me I had been selected, I’ve been overwhelmed. There is a flood of memories of my time at Shawnee Mission North that have been racing through my mind.

I generally arrived at school for class at the very last nanosecond before the final tardy bell. That required precision timing as I raced down Metcalf in my ’59 Chevy, and then sprinted from the lower parking lot to my first hour government class, just in time for the bell. On more than one occasion, however, I miscalculated. This required more strategic maneuvers. Since the door was at the back of the classroom, and my chair was right next to the door, my buddy Rick would simply shove my chair out into the hall. Then I would wait until the teacher was distracted or not looking, give me the signal and then I would just slide back in fully seated as though I’d been there all along.

I’m sure each of you has your own unique memories of your time at North as well.

Tonight is your night … your graduation … your commencement – but this is not an ending – it’s a beginning -- and you are embarking on the next leg of the journey of your life.

In the history of Shawnee Mission North, including your class, there have been 78 classes of seniors that have graduated. Using my Alumni Directory of 2000, I made a rough estimate – and that totals nearly 40,000 graduates.

I want to tell you about one of those graduates. This student graduated in 1963 and after his successful years in college returned to North as a journalism teacher. Not only was he the first baseball coach for North -- he was responsible for launching the baseball program in the entire Shawnee Mission district. From teaching, he moved into administration.

You could say he is one in 40,000, because what I tell you cannot be said of any other person that has graduated from Shawnee Mission North. Only one person has been a graduate, a faculty member, and the Principal. And after 31 years of service in the Shawnee Mission School District, he will retire … and tonight is his final Shawnee Mission graduation. Let’s say a big thank you to your Principal, Mr. John Krueger.

Mr. Krueger, I’m honored to be a part of this graduation with you. Thank you for your service to the students of Shawnee Mission.

Just two weeks ago, I was riding in a taxicab in Kuala, Lumpur, Malaysia. The cab driver wanted to know what I did for a living. I told him I was a youth worker from America. As we drove to the airport, the taxi driver wanted me to explain to him why the American teenager carries guns and shoots their school classmates. I was disturbed that a taxi cab driver in Malaysia had a distorted stereotype of the American High School student.

Now, we are all aware of the big deal that the media makes over such incidents, but for every student that we read about that messes up, … there are thousands and thousands more who are making a positive difference in our world. As I look at your class sitting before me, – the class of 2001 – You are awesome! You are incredible! I can’t wait to see what you are going to accomplish with your lives!

Let me say to your parents, grandparents, and friends who are here tonight, the students sitting in cap and gown before you are members of a new generation. The Millennials -- students born after 1981 – and the class of 2001 is the first of this very special generation to graduate from High School … many of us believe they are the next great generation.

In the book “Millennials Rising – the Next Great Generation” authors Howe and Strauss state the following about you and your peers – and I quote: “As a group, Millennials are unlike any other youth generation in living memory. They are more numerous, more affluent, better educated, and more ethnically diverse. More important, they are beginning to manifest a wide array of positive social habits that older Americans no longer associate with youth, including a new focus on teamwork, achievement, modesty, and good conduct. Only a few years from now, this can-do youth revolution will overwhelm the cynics and pessimists. Over the next decade, the Millennial Generation will entirely recast the image of youth from downbeat and alienated to upbeat and engaged–with potentially seismic consequences for America.” (End quote.)

According to a recent Roper survey, Millennials were asked, “What is the major cause of problems in this country?" The answer? More teenagers blamed “selfishness” than anything else.

We have hope … and it is sitting before you tonight!

So, when that Malaysian taxicab driver asked me about the American teenager … the students I thought of were not the ones he wanted to know about – I thought about how students at North were building a Habitat for Humanity home with two other Shawnee Mission high schools; I thought about the North students that had spent their spring breaks in Mexico and Jamaica building homes for those who had none; I thought about North students who spent a Saturday with several thousand other students from across Kansas City serving in inner city neighborhoods – planting flowers, gardens, painting play ground equipment, and working on homes; I thought of students who volunteer in nursing homes; I thought of students who serve in North’s developmental center investing themselves in their peers who have exceptionalities; I thought of North students, who this last spring break … in the midst of their grief of losing friends in a horrible car crash – unselfishly spent their free days raising money to help defray medical and funeral expenses.

So, Elizabeth Dagley and Matt Laskowski, I read what you wrote in The Mission last week and – you were right when you wrote and I quote: -- “We only learn when we allow ourselves to step outside of the comfortable box we create for ourselves. While learning to accept others means getting to know them, sometimes all it takes is sitting in a different seat.” End quote.

It has been written “to whom much is given much shall be required.” You, the class of 2001 has been given much – and you have a great opportunity to build on what you’ve already learned outside the classroom and give much back.

As you get ready to set sail tonight on the next leg of your life’s journey, let me encourage you with two words. These two words come from things that I’ve learned outside of the classroom throughout my journey. These two words encompass so much and are so profound. And, when acting on these words so much falls into place.

The two words are “LOVE OTHERS.”

These two words are a part of my personal mission statement – which is four words long: “Love God, love others.” I don’t know what you want your mission statement to be for your life … but write one and I challenge you to include in your personal mission those two words LOVE OTHERS. Make loving others a daily goal.

So much takes place when you love others … you find yourself giving yourself away – and it’s the greatest legacy you can leave … loving others and investing yourself in them.

Yes, I understand the pressures you are feeling right now – Where am I going to school? What am I going to do? Where will I end up? How much money am I going to be able to earn? These are good thoughts, responsible thoughts.

But, may I submit to you that it won’t matter how much money you’ve earned, where you went to school, what job you have, or how many degrees you’ve earned … it’s just stuff.

The facts are – someday, we will all come to the end of our life. When that inevitable day comes, as the hearse drives down the street, it will not have a U-Haul trailer containing all your stuff hitched to the back of it. No – the stuff is left behind.

So what can you leave behind that makes a difference -- your legacy. And what better legacy can you have than that you loved others?

It’s hard to be angry when you love others. It’s hard to lie when you love others. It’s hard to cheat when you love others. It’s hard to be mean when you love others. It’s hard to differentiate between people when you love others.

One of the best things about loving others is that it doesn’t take money … it just takes you.

I know someone who has made a practice of loving others her whole life. Everything in life seemed to be against her. Her parents placed her in an orphanage when she was just 4 years old. Then they brought her back into the home at 14 to work and earn money, she grew up poor, and was never able to get a high school education like you and me. She had many opportunities to become embittered toward life and people in general.

After she was married she was widowed during the depression with two small boys, again, everything seemed to be against her, she persevered, earned her GED, and taught herself to type with a book from the library – and became a bookkeeper in a prestigious insurance company and worked there until retirement. This last year she survived breast cancer her first time in the hospital since 1941. And, when we left the hospital for her last radiation treatment the doctors and nurses came from all over the hospital. They were so sad to see her leave – she had only known them a short time – but in that time had left a legacy of loving others.

So how do I know all this? She is my wife, Susan’s Grandma. Today, she’s almost 97 and she is a joy to be around. She gives herself away to everyone she comes into contact with. She is the embodiment of loving others. Even when she had nothing – she would go down to the City Union Mission to serve the poor. She never looked inward – she looked outward and has given herself away her whole life.

Not long ago, we asked her what was the secret to her long and happy life? Her answer was profound. And I quote: “In life, you can never give too much or forgive too much – that is the secret!”

That is what loving others is all about! Make that your mission! Wrap it up in your life goals! As the Millennial generation, you will lead the way and we will all learn from you.

And, may I say to some of you – Patty, Amy, Ali, Abby, Elliott, Chris, Kirsten, Andrea, Megan, Emily, Sally, Nick and of course I could not think of everyone in your class I wanted to name– thanks for the memories of the past four years … I look forward to your future.

And, to all of you – the future is in your hands … I challenge you to make the most of every opportunity – to love others, give yourselves away – it will not only change your world, it will change the world around you.

And as was written for great leaders long ago I share with you – great leaders tonight, these words:

“The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace.”

May God bless you!