Dear High School Graduates,

Advice number one: Sin boldly.

A strange commencement charge to be sure but I suggest it all the same.

It is based on the concept that the very worst thing that could happen to you is that you become afraid of life.

We have enough people like that and too many of them are in positions of power.

Washington D.C. is filled with folk who are afraid to speak the truth for fear they won’t be re-elected. Corporate America is lined with executives too comfortable with the status quo to be hospitable to the kind of changes that new ideas bring.

Even our own schools and churches are packed with leaders who are afraid of adventure and growth.

We need you!

Graduate into a life of openness to new experiences and new ways of seeing things. Travel to places that present different understandings of how things get done and what makes sense.

Don’t be afraid of being different. Just remember that it may not make you popular with anyone but yourself.

Slow down a little, too.

A wise monk once said, "Anything rushed is not of God."

Don’t be in too big a hurry to decide on your life’s work. Try out some things you’ve only dreamed about. There are few things sadder than a kid who at 16 has decided what she’s going to be doing at 66.

Take some time!

Be honest. Sometimes the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes and somebody needs to tell him. Be prepared, of course, for frightened people to attack you for speaking up.

There is a book out that I haven’t read but I am intrigued with the title, Do What You Want. The Money Will Follow. Tempting as it may be, the worst thing you could do right now is choose a career because of the money you can make. Choose instead something that will get you out of bed in the morning, excited about going to work, infatuated over what you are going to do that day. For some, that may even be making lots of money but from what I’ve seen, it usually isn’t.

Speaking of books, one of the best I have read recently was written by one of my favorite teachers, Rabbi Harold Kushner. The book is entitled, How Good Do We Have To Be? And it would be a great one to begin your post-High School reading career. In it, the good rabbi reminds us that perfection just isn’t in the cards for humans. We are bound to make mistakes and the sooner we realize that truth, the better off all of us will be.

He has some particularly helpful words for folk like you who are about to leave home...

As one of those mistake-ridden parents, I find such counsel consoling. I hope all of you find it to be true.

A friend of mine once wrote of his conviction that nothing could ever separate us from the love of God. I share his certainty and I have found that such an attitude allows me to venture out in all kinds of wild and wonderful directions, knowing that nothing I can ever do, or say, or believe, will diminish God’s love for me. Such a faith, I have found, is the source of an exciting and fulfilling way of life.

Finally, and this may be most important of all, know when to shut up.

Congratulations!