What I heard at graduation

So, I graduated for the second time from Troy University on Friday, May 12.

Don’t worry. I’ll hold for your applause.

Anyway, I wanted to share with you readers the message I heard from the commencement speaker Lt. Gen. Steven L. Kwast, commander and president of Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery.

“Discover your passion and then refine your gift in the service of others,” he said. “Don’t think you have to have it all figured out today. It is a lifetime journey. If you find that one thing, dedicate yourself to it and then give it in service, you will find that you will be wildly successful.”

He even said that he’s still trying to find his passion today, which I found to be comforting, actually.

I’ve heard people say related ideas to me. People have told me, “You’re too young to know yourself yet. Just enjoy life,” or “You don’t have to have everything figured out now.”

I am constantly in need of hearing words like these. I should probably have someone say them every three to six months in order to keep me straight on this.

I couldn’t even begin to describe how much stress I have placed on myself because I think I should know everything about everything by now in my life.

And while I liked the part about not having to figure out your passion right this second, I really appreciated his statement about using your passion, or your gift, “in the service of others.”

I think everyone forgets that sometimes. I know that I do.

I felt that it was a needed reminder, especially during days like we are currently having.

When all you hear about is either how much of a saint or a devil the president is, how much the world is burning around you, how much money you owe people or companies or anyone else......

It all gets a bit exhausting and overwhelming.

While Lt. Gen. Kwast was speaking, I just kept thinking, maybe it would be easier to just focus on ourselves and those people immediately around us.

Figuring out who you are and what you love is just as important, if not more so, than what executive orders the president signed that day.

Helping others, especially those in your neighborhood, community, school, work building, etc., is also important. It’s definitely more important than some of the drama going on in the world today.

I have been trying to take the time (what little time I had to myself) to look at what I enjoy and what I am passionate about. I’m just searching for it, if you will.

I hope to do more for others and see others do more for others, especially after hearing that speech at graduation.

I don’t know. Maybe focusing on those two things will make the world seem just a little bit better.

Cassie Gibbs is a staff writer for The Southeast Sun and Daleville Sun-Courier. The opinions of this writer are her own and not the opinion of the paper. She can be reached at (334) 393-2969 or by email at [email protected].