(Following are the notes from my commencement speech on June 6th 2008 at the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind in Faribault MN.)

A couple weeks ago I noticed a large piece of blank paper on the wall in one of the hallways at Itasca Community College. It caught my attention because it was approximately ten feet long and three feet deep. Across the top, written in bold letters nine inches tall was this question: “What is our most precious American freedom?” Traveling that same hallway a half hour later, I noticed someone had written, also in bold letters, one person’s answer. “Our freedom to choose.”

My first computer was an Apple Macintosh. Selecting the CHOOSER on the Apple menu would give me two printing options:
1. The smooth sounding purr of the high quality lazer printer output that was visually appealing but painfully slow, or
2. The clunky, jerky, rat-i-tat-tat of the less-than-attractive dot matrix output of the ImageWriter that was, in those days, lightening fast.
My Mac did not tell me which one to select. I could choose.

Near the end of the third Indiana Jones movie, The Last Crusade, the elderly knight assigned to guard the Holy Grail, allowed the bad guy to choose which cup he wanted. After seeing the outcome of the bad guys’ choice he comments: “He chose poorly.”

Viktor Frankl, who spent three years in Auschwitz and other Nazi prison camps wrote the following observation in his book: Man’s search for meaning. “….everything can be taken from a man, but one thing. The last of the human freedoms, to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose his own way.”

I am a firm believer in mankind’s ability to choose. We need not be victims, nor allow ourselves to be bullied by circumstances.

Question: How are things going today?
Answer: Pretty good under the circumstances.
Question: What are you doing under the circumstances?

At age 25, a promising young television news producer is diagnosed with MS. It’s time to choose.
In his New York Times Bestseller, Blindsided: Lifting a life above illness, Richard M. Cohan says this: “Victim status embodies all that I reject about the struggles of life.”

Controversial radio talk show host and author, Dr. Laura Schlessinger contrasts a victim and a conqueror when she writes: “When you are a conquerer, the present is controlled by your choices, in spite of the pain and pull of your past.”

When faced with a decision, the victim responds: “You’re right. I could never do that. I’ll just stay here where it’s safe.”

For the conqueror, it’s never: “Your right. I can’t do that”
It’s always: “What must I do to reach my goal?”
That’s when the decision is made.

Is there a possibility I will fail at my attempt? Yup.
Is there a possibility I will end up with egg on my face? Yup.
Is there a possibility I will not reach my goal? Yup.

(Tell story from book to help illustrate: Batman on a bike)

Jonas Salk discoverd 200 ways NOT to make the polio vaccine.

Sir Winston Churchill, when asked if it were true that he failed second grade, responded that no he hadn’t. He was given a second opportunity to get it right.

In his book: if you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat, John Ortberg: wrote: “The worst failure is not: to sink in the waves. The worst failure is to not get out of the boat.” And again: “Failure does not shape you. The way you respond to failure shapes you.”

(Tell story from book to help illustrate: A competent question.)

To borrow words, once again, from Viktor Frankl: “Man is not fully conditioned and determined. He determines himself, whether to give in to conditions or stand up to them. In other words, man is ultimately self-determining. Man does not simply exist, but decides what his existence will be. What he will become in the next moment.”

Alex, Cassie, Larry and Surya, each of you has chosen to go to class rather than play sick. Each of you has chosen to do your home work and jump through all the hoops, even though the hoops may have seemed irrelevant. Each of you has chosen to graduate. Each of you has chosen to further your education and I know you will be conquerors.

To borrow the words the knight spoke to Indiana Jones, “you have chosen wisely.” God bless you.

Best kept secret in Minnesota-MSAB

On June 5th and 6th, Kathy and I had the privilage of spening time on the campus of the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind. (The graduates had asked me to give the commencement address. I took the opportunity to exchane emails with staff and grads before our arrival and then attending the other festivities while there.)
While I was aware of its existence, I had no idea of the high level of compassionate care and education made available to the student body as they master the life skills they'll need after leaving MSAB. It is a credit to our state that we make MSAB and MSAD (Minnesota Academy for the Deaf) available to folks who may face different challeges than the "normal" student. As the staff was clear to point out: MSAB/D is the best kept secret in the state!

A recent tech toy

I love using JAWS (screen reading software) on my computer-there is no need to look at the screen. "Tom" reads the screen info to me. Last week, Mobile Speak was installed on my cell phone doing the same with that little bitty screen. Now, not only do I have access to a contact list, but the Calendar function looks pretty fun, too.