A nice read.

[Rowda]

This is the commencement speech by the writer, Anna Quindlen, to the

graduates at Villanova this year.

 

I have no specialized field of interest or expertise, which puts me at a

disadvantage talking to you today.

 

I'm a novelist.

My work is human nature. Real life is all I know. Don't ever confuse the

two, your life and your work. The second is only part of the first.

 

No man ever said on his deathbed, 'I wish I had spent more time at the

office.'" Don't ever forget the words my father sent me on a postcard last

year: "If you win the rat race, you're still a rat." Or what John Lennon

wrote before he was gunned down in the driveway of the Dakota: "Life is

what happens while you are busy making other plans."

 

You will walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one

else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same

degree; there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a

living. But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your

life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a

desk, or your life on a bus, or in a car, or at the computer. Not just the

life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account

but your soul.

 

People don't talk about the soul very much anymore. It's so much easier to

write a resume than to craft a spirit. But a resume is a cold comfort on a

winter night, or when you're sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you've

gotten back the test results and they're not so good.

 

Here is my resume:

I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my

profession stand in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider

myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh.

 

I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean

what they say. I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without

them, there would be nothing to say to you today, because I would be a

cardboard cutout. But I call them on the phone, and I meet them for lunch.

 

So here's what I wanted to tell you today:

Get a life. A real life, not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the

bigger paycheck, the larger house. Do you think you'd care so very much

about those things if you blew an aneurysm one afternoon, or found a lump

in your breast?

 

Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a

breeze over Seaside Heights, a life in which you stop and watch how a red

tailed hawk circles over the water or the way a baby scowls with

concentration when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with her thumb and first

finger.

 

Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love and who love

you. And remember that love is not leisure; it is work. Pick up the

phone. Send an email. Write a letter.

 

Get a life in which you are generous. And realize that life is the best

thing ever, and that you have no business taking it for granted. Care so

deeply about its goodness that you want to spread it around. Take money

you would have spent on beers and give it to charity. Work in a soup

kitchen.

 

Be a big brother or sister.

 

It is so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years

ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, something that changed

my life in ways that, if I had my druthers, I would never have been changed

at all. And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest

lesson of all: I learned to love the journey, not the destination. I

learned that it is not a dress rehearsal, and that today is the only

guarantee you get.

 

I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it

back because I believed in it, completely and utterly. And I tried to do

that, in part, by telling others what I had learned.

 

By telling them this: Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the fuzz on

a baby's ear. Read in the backyard with the sun on your face.

 

Learn to be happy.

 

And think of life as a terminal illness, because if you do, you will live

it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived.

 

Share anything that motivates you.

[Dhagax-Tuur]

simple yet beautiful words. Thanks for sharing, walaalo.

[Katrina]

^^Luved it Rowda, masha'allah what a motivational speech...talk about prespective.

[double decker]

that was really nice. luv it. thanks 4 sharing

[Pacifist]

Inspiring words indeed thanks Rowda.

[Rowda]

Idinkoo dhan ayaa mudan.

[Katrina]

^Nayaa Rowda, stop before the head gets any bigger!! It wasn't meant for you but Anna Quindlen.

 

*Mental Note...watch your back!*

[Rowda]

^Isqabooji Wijdan, kat or whatever you want to be called this beautiful V-day. I dont know but there is something about you that I like or attract to, okey boys get your mind out of....

Anywho, I should diffenatly get the mahadnoq simply cuz I posted the topic.

Let me know hadii aan kaaxishoodsiyey, which means you feel the same way too

Wijdan?? macnee pls

[Zafir]

^^I know just what you both need, Me..Kat is cool i know, rowda, what say u?

[Rowda]

^you mean 3...runtii?? I know I come across angry black female but I can be freaky sometimes. Zafir, what better way to spend your V-day than 3...but under one condition, Kat must participate

[Zafir]

^^Aah am truly blessed. Kat, come join this union (of valentine intertwine) or forever hold your piece.

 

Rowda, Just in case, she decides to act hard to get, can we look for someone else for her replacement. I know just the person.

[Chocolate and Honey]

Nice one Rowda. Absolutely loved it, what a beatiful speech!

[Rowda]

Zafir, it looks like you pissed Kat off, anigana waad isii maratay dee

About the replacement its very hard runtii cuz I sat my mind to Kat, and I need to rethink for a sec....can I choose for us next person than??

 

Choc/honey, what happen to you girl, missed your posts ma UFM buufis gugu ritay or what???

waad mahadsan tahay walaashiis

[Chocolate and Honey]

Looooooooool thanks for noticing. But yes that place is drivin me nuts. Anyhoo, I missed your posts too. where have been?

[Rowda]

^ilaahada sheekadii aad ii balan qaaday ayaan kaa sugayaa

Glad to have you back sis, aniga schoolka iyo math ayaa iqabo now days.