Valedictorian

My brother Chris is about to graduate from high school and with a 4.0 GPA, he'll be Valedictorian. That's three for three--my sister, myself, and my brother all graduated from Mt. Morris high school as Valedictorians. It's like a legacy or something. My parents must know how to grow 'em.

I'm incredibly proud of Chris. Being Valedictorian isn't about winning the competition, or being able to stand in front of your classmates and declare, "I'm number one" (as most of my own class assumed my intentions were in high school). Being Valedictorian for him, as it was for me, means starting off his higher education with the most choices available. As they say, the most important part of a house is its foundation, and if his future is going to be tested by the wind, its beginnings better be made of concrete. Hit the ground running--that's what being Valedictorian is all about. By the time I stood in front of my peers with my cap and gown on, it wasn't about them (nor had it ever been). It was about that future in my heart.

Chris wants to be a doctor. Somewhere along the way he came to a fork in his road, and from boundless possible paths he chose the most difficult of them all, and I just have to admire him for that. His choice is not for the faint of heart. I grow excited to watch him proceed from here because I see myself in him. When I listen to him talk about being a doctor, when I hear the passion, the desperation, the knowing that he'll feel useless in this world unless he succeeds, I see myself, from once upon a time. I sit on the edge of my seat and I realize, "I'm going to help him through his obstacles. I'm going to make sure that passion never dies."

I'll do this because I know, more than anyone in his life, that it will be the passion more than his intelligence that will propel him through to his finish line.

:)