GRADUATION SPEECH CLASS OF 2000

On behalf of your parents and friends, on behalf of my esteemed colleagues
and the administration, on behalf of the assembled musicians and
percussionists, on behalf of my mom -- hi mom -- on behalf of Alan, Squishy
Cartman, Hula Cow, and the Giant Crayon, I bid congratulations to you, the
graduating class of 2000.

As we walked onto the field today for these commencement ceremonies, you
were led by your teachers, who, when we neared the stands,  formed an aisle
down which you walked.  This is for a reason:  that was the last time you
will pass before us as our students.  The next time we see you, it will be
as fellow citizens.

It was with this in mind -- that this is the last chance any of us have to
hold claim to you as your teachers -- that this is the last chance any of
us have to command your undivided attention -- that this is the last chance
any of us have to utter those profound and immortal words:  "the bell
doesn't dismiss you, I  dismiss you!" -- it was with these things in mind
that I crafted these thoughts.

To begin with, words can not begin to express how honored and grateful I am
to have been asked by you to give this address.  You came together and made
a tremendously difficult decision.  When you have, at your call, the likes
of Lilien and Cleary, Barnes and Flight, MacLean and DeMeulemeester,
Roberts, Mead, Joseph, the other members of this superb faculty, and the
distinguished members of our communities, to be elected is a touching vote
of confidence.  I'm not sure if you understand this, but history is being
made here at CCHS today.  For the first time in its history, the senior
class has invited, as their graduation speaker, someone one who is openly,
proudly, and unapologetically, an avowed lover of mathematics.  It is a
truly wonderful affirmation of the fact that in these communities, I am
embraced not despite the fact that a significant part of my reputation here
is defined by my love of mathematics, but because of it.  In my first four
years here, though I taught math all day long, I was mostly known, through
the school, for directing the musicals.  When I received tenure in 1992, I
discontinued my close association with the theater, preferring to admit,
openly, and for the first time, that I loved math, and math alone.  At
first, when this information became known, students were heard to say,
"Atlas?  He's okay even though he loves math."  But now the school has
grown.  Now, it's "Atlas is okay.  And he loves math."

It gives me tremendous joy that in Concord, Carlisle, and Boston, I have
found communities which embrace me.  I tell you this in case you are one of
the majority of your classmates who are sitting here now wondering if you
will ever be accepted for who you truly are -- despite your differences,
whatever they might be, despite your passions, despite your myriad
strengths and seemingly glaring weaknesses, despite your secret, ardent
love of mathematics.  If you are one of those wonderers I assure you:
whoever you are, what ever you believe, there is a community that will
embrace you.  Whoever you are, what ever your fears for the future, you are
not alone.  Whoever you are, whatever your potential, you have permission
to achieve that potential.

There are more than six billion people in the world.  At least one of them
wants to share your dreams with you.  I found mine -- he's sitting in the
stands today.  I found mine, and if I can, you can.  Go find yours.  There
are more than six billion people in the world.  At least one of them wants
to employ you in the best job you could possibly imagine.  We found ours,
and if we can, you can.  Go find yours.  There are more than six billion
people in the world.  At least one more of them is waiting to impart that
lustrous pearl of knowledge which will make you stagger, and say, in
breathless awe, the words of Göethe's Faust, "tarry a while, you are so
beautiful!"    We, each of us who has individually been so touched by
teachers of our own, we have found ours, and if we can, you can.  Go find
yours.  There are communities which will celebrate you, and accept you, and
honor you in the way that the communities of Carlisle, Concord, and Boston
have been celebrating, accepting, and honoring me for the past twelve
years.  And if I can find mine, you can find yours.

Because it is the connection that we make to our communities that makes us
whole and happy.  It is through the relationships we build with those
around us that, finally, we will be judged, and will, inevitably, judge
ourselves.  So as you go out into the wide world out there, be good to
yourself, and be good to each other.  Have the courage to embrace your
peers.  Dare to include. Risk learning.  Challenge complacency.
Desperately cling to kindness.  Listen to Thoreau:  Live deliberately, and
suck out all the marrow of life.  And empower yourself to be yourself.

Empower yourself to be yourself because, in the words of Sweet Honey in the
Rock, "we are the people we've been waiting for."  We are the people who
are going to make the world the place in which we want to live.  Not them.
Not they. You and I.  We are the people who can see to it that the well
being of all of our communities' members is insured, and that injustices
are identified and addressed.  Not them, not they.  You and I.  We can see
to it that in this great democracy of ours, the wishes of the majority are
carried out, but the tyranny of the majority is fought, if needs be, tooth
and nail.  Not them, not they.  You and I.

You can be the person you've been waiting for.  You know who she is.  You
know who he is.  Become her.  Become him.  You have the tools to do it.  We
have seen you exercise those muscles of independence and self-acutalization
for the last four years.  Now, finally, you can go into the world to become
the person you've been waiting for.  And, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues,
fellow citizens, that's why it's called a commencement and not a graduation.

Become the person you've been waiting for.  Change the world.  And do not
think for a moment that you can't change the world.  That is a myth, and a
destructive one, at that.  For proof, I ask you to take a moment to look
around this dais at the faculty, now your fellow citizens , seated before
you.  This mostly brilliant, wholly dedicated, selfless group of people who
have had the joy of helping to shepherd you into adulthood.  Do you see the
ones who changed your world?  Return the favor.  Change theirs.  Go.  Do.
Become.