May 21, 2001
Psychology major, senior class president, national achievement scholar, and
accomplished singer,
Jade Nicole Durkee from Shawnee, Kansas, was elected by the Class of 2001 to
deliver the senior address.
This is
it. We are graduating.
Everyone is telling us that our lives are about to start.
The real world is imminent. We
have reached the grand crossroad at this stage of our lives, the last hurrah of
our youth. What are you going to do
with yourself?, they ask. Do you have a job, or at least a plan? Are you afraid of the big
bad world?
These are the statement and questions I’ve
contemplated while trying to figure out what to say to all of us facing the same
reality, the end of our undergraduate Colorado College experience. And while I
can’t claim to know the experience of each and every one of my classmates, I think I can
make one statement with certainty:
Life
doesn’t begin when we get our pieces of paper stating that we have completed
the requirements set out by departments and the registrar.
Life began when we were old enough to comprehend the concept of
happiness, and began to strive to achieve that ideal for ourselves.
Graduation is no more a crossroad than the
crossroad we face each morning -- namely, do we choose to get out of bed and
face the day, or just roll over and let life pass us by?
I didn't come to Colorado College with this view on
life, many discoveries here have lead me to this decision. When I came to CC, I stepped into a world I
didn’t know existed. Everyone
seemed so friendly and open-minded. They
used words like "Nalgene" and "telemark" and "carabeaner" and
"schwag." I’d never heard of things like that. I felt that my eyes were open for the first time in my life.
So many people to meet, and oh my goodness, so many parties
to attend. People discussed things casually, like sexuality and race, wealth
and discrimination, topics I thought were too private to speak about.
I’d never seen a hockey game, and I didn’t know people actually
played that game with the baskets on sticks -- lacrosse. What was a trust fund,
and more importantly, what’s a "trustafarian?"
What do you mean, the Greek system can be cool, so it’s not like those
college movies?
I found my
political voice with CCCA and class officers and discovered my singing voice
with Room 46. Take Back the Night
felt so liberating, as did screaming “Sieve, Sieve!” with thousands of fans at
the hockey games, and dancing on pool tables with my best friend. I also
discovered that my parents weren’t complete idiots, like I thought when I
lived with them. They actually had intelligent advice -- most of the time.
I grew to appreciate the wonder of parental unconditional love, as well
as the simple pleasures of home-cooked food and free laundry.
The experiences and discoveries of the past four
years, were like trying new flavors of ice cream.
I found love here too.
That was the sweetest flavor of them all.
I also lost love, not my favorite flavor.
That’s when I discovered the real power of friendship -- to give you the
strength to survive. Friendship, to
give you the rope to help you climb out of that hole of despair.
Friendship, to hold your hand when you feel the warmth of the sun again
after spending so much time in the darkness of yourself. My friends, I’ve never told you how much you mean to me and how much I love you.
We made a decision around four years ago to come to
the CC bubble, to let the block
plan be our plan for a while. Was
it the right decision? How do we know? We DO know that the experiences here have changed us, created more
idealism in some, more cynicism in others. I believe that any decision that
allows for growth and change is the most rewarding decision.
There have been many times when I wished I could
just let the world turn without me. I’ve battled many demons in my time here at CC.
I’m sure I have many more left to fight. But from experience, I can
honestly say that the right decision in life is to choose to live fully, to
decide that you truly care.
So I would like to take this opportunity to share
with you my philosophy of life. It
is quite simple but it is very difficult to live your life this way. I struggle
with it everyday.
Your only
responsibility in life is to be happy. That’s
it. If you are able to be happy
without hurting someone else, that's wonderful.
If you manage to be happy while making someone else happy, then you’ve
reached the greatest state a human being can achieve. As the old Chinese Proverbs states:
If you want happiness for an hour, then take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day, then go fishing.
If you want happiness for a month, then get married.
If you want happiness for a year, then inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime, then help someone else.
That’s all. Don’t sell yourself
short. If the idea of dressing in a
suit and conquering corporate America makes you happy, then do it.
If your dream is to be a champion of the rainforest, go for it.
If you are passionately happy to sit around and watch TV, do it, but
maybe you should get one of those Stuff-Envelopes-at-Home jobs so you can pay
your rent. As Confucius once said,
“Wheresoever you go, go with all of your heart.” Your only responsibility is
to find your passion and live it to its fullest.
Sounds easy doesn’t it? But ask yourself right now, What is your passion?
For those of you who can answer that question quickly, I ask:
Are you living your passion to its fullest?
Will you?
By making the decision to get out of bed each
morning, we make the decision to face the day.
Let’s take the next step, and make the decision to explore the realm of
our dreams.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2001!!!!!
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