[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 107 (Friday, August 5, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
           COMMENCEMENT SPEECH BY THE REVEREND RONALD COLEMAN

  Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, this is the time of year when young 
people throughout the Nation are celebrating their graduation from high 
school.
  I remember 2 years ago when my daughter, Juliana, graduated from 
Aiken High School, I had the pleasure of listening to an especially 
fine commencement speech, given by the Rev. Ronald Coleman, the proud 
father of another graduate. I found Reverend Coleman's remarks to be 
inspiring and thought they contained a great deal of good advice. As a 
matter of fact, I want to take this opportunity to share them with my 
colleagues here in the Senate in the hope that they will pass them on 
to any young graduates they might know.
  Mr. President, I request unanimous consent that a copy of Reverend 
Coleman's speech be placed in the Record following my remarks.
  There being no objection, the speech was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                      Keep the Courage To Achieve

  ``Be strong and of a good courage: For unto this people shall thou 
divide for an inheritance the land, which I swear unto their fathers to 
give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest, 
observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant 
commanded thee: Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that 
thou mayest prosper whither so ever
  I congratulate each of you for an academic job well done. All of you 
should pat yourselves on the back because today is perhaps, thus far in 
your school life, ``the day''. It represents the culmination of 12 
years of laborious study, hard work, dedication, sacrifice, devotion, 
and competition. It represents the end of academic boot camp and you 
are now required to enter the battlefield of life, with the knowledge 
and understanding of the enemies' strategies, tactics, and methods, 
with the ability to counter them. The Marine slogan is true that boot 
camp separates the men from the boys: Likewise, does graduation 
separate the achievers from the nonachievers, the learned from the 
unlearned and the hard workers from the showoffs. Hence in the minds of 
some graduates, there may exist thoughts concerning this occasion 
because you know that only the fittest will survive, and self-survival 
depends upon how well the academic skills and knowledge were learned in 
the classroom setting, prior to this day. Guiding forces other than 
your own, probably, determined the pathways, roads and directions, that 
you should travel, as you fulfilled the essentials of life. Mother, 
father, sisters and others, perhaps helped mold your self-image through 
precepts and examples.
  Nevertheless, be it resolved that on this day, May 31, 1992, at the 
First Baptist Church, located at the corners of York Street and 
Richland Avenue, and having been invited by the principal and faculty 
of Aiken High School, may the history books of life reflect that 
Reverend Coleman challenged the graduating seniors of Aiken High to 
keep the courage to achieve, as evidenced by the scriptural text read 
in your hearing. Joshua and his followers were encouraged to be strong 
and courageous, and to know there is no gratification in turning to the 
left or right. They knew to prosper one must possess the faith to 
believe you can achieve, and the courage to try. Success in life does 
not come by wishing it into existence. If success is worth having then 
it is worth the time, energy, drive, and determination it takes to 
achieve. Do not dwell on the negative aspects of life for it is said 
that two buckets went to the well to draw water, with a complaining and 
negative attitude one bucket said to the other ``It amazes me that no 
matter how many times we leave the well full we always come back empty.
  The other bucket said I was congratulating myself on the fact that no 
matter how many times we come to the well empty, we always leave 
full.'' There is always two sides to life. Always be optimistic and 
look to the brighter side of life. Hopefully the academic training, 
skills, knowledge and understanding that each of you acquired during 
your 12 years of study will enable you to keep the courage to achieve. 
The greatest test that any of you will take will be the one given not 
by teachers and professional examiners, but the one given by the world. 
The real world, where mommy and daddy may no longer come to your 
rescue, and each of you must face the weeding-out process, which 
separates the prepared from the unprepared, the skilled from the 
unskilled and the pretenders from the contenders. The future of our 
country and the world rests now with the graduating minds of this 
class. It is imperative that you achieve in life. Do not sell 
yourselves short by only doing enough to get by. Those who do so will 
never see all the colors of the rainbow because their vision would have 
been impaired by the sunlight of mediocrity. They will never smell the 
full fragrance of achievement since it will be stifled by the stuffy 
odor of mediocrity. Life should be experienced to the fullest but 
mediocrity serves the express purpose of limiting and crippling life's 
dream.
  The late great Dr. Benjamin E. Mays stated ``It is not to be borne in 
the mind that the tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your 
goals. The tragedy lies in having no goals to reach. It is not a 
calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to 
dream. It is not a disaster to be unable to capture your ideals, but it 
is a disaster to have no ideals to capture. It is not a disgrace not to 
reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for, 
not failure, but low aim, is sin. The road to excellence is rough, 
rugged, and difficult, but persons who make it to the end find 
satisfaction, gratification, and fulfillment. People traveling the road 
of excellence will be all that they can be. Keeping the courage to 
achieve presents and serves as your source of strength and inspiration. 
Deeply ingrained in your mind is the determination to succeed. In 
closing, there are several final things that I wish to mention 
concerning the occasion which brought us together this evening. As well 
as representing a happy moment in the lives of graduating seniors, this 
day signals an end to many other things, due to roads that each of you 
choose, friendships that began with someone from grade 1, may now come 
to an end, because of the road that each of you choose. There will be 
members of the graduating class that you may never see again. But let 
us not end our sermon on a sad note.''
  Instead, Hornets, let us be jubilant and keep alive the friendships 
and bonds that kept you close to each other. Let us allow the eternal 
torches of love, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of your alma 
mater, Aiken High, to stand tall on the highest mountain so that others 
can see the way. Let us keep alive the rich proud academic tradition of 
a great institution of higher learning, which tries to illuminate, and 
inspire, the minds of young people. Remember, what ever Aiken High 
stands for, depends upon you because you are Aiken High. I wish to 
dedicate and leave a poem written by Douglas Malluch entitled ``Be the 
Best of Whatever You Are.''

       We all dream of great deeds and high positions, away from 
     the pettiness and humdrum of ordinary life. Yet success is 
     not occupying a lofty place or doing conspicuous work, it is 
     being the best that is in you. Rattling around in too big a 
     job is worse than filling a small one to overflowing. Dream, 
     aspire by all means, but do not ruin the life you must lead. 
     Make the most of what you have, and are. Perhaps your trivial 
     immediate task is your one sure way of proving your mettle. 
     Do the things near at hand and great things will come to your 
     hands to be done.
       If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill, be a scrub 
     in the valley, but be the best little scrub by the side of 
     the hill. Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a 
     bush, be a bit of the grass, and some highway happier make. 
     If you can't be a muskie, then just be a bass but the 
     liveliest bass in the lake. We can't all be captains, we've 
     got to be crew, there's something from all of us here, 
     there's big work to do, and there's lesser to do, and the 
     task you must do is the near. If you can't be a highway then 
     just be a trail, if you can't be the sun be a star. It isn't 
     by size that you win or fail be the best of whatever you are.

  God bless you all and best wishes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.

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