Another commencement season will soon be upon us. While most high school and college graduates-to-be yearn to be free of lectures, homework and exams, some of us watching from the sidelines wish we were back in what looks to us now as a relatively carefree life of inquiry and discovery compared to the daily grind of job, family and responsibilities.
The truth is, both worlds have advantages and disadvantages, joys and frustrations. When it comes down to it, freedom and fulfillment are realities we create or negate for ourselves, in whatever lifestage we occupy.
Graduates, post-graduates and pre-graduates, if there’s a word of wisdom to consider, it might be this: You probably won’t find contentment in the promise of tomorrow if you can’t find it in the stage you inhabit today. —DR