On This Our Last Day

Dear Young People --

On this, our last day together, I want to thank you. I want to thank you for playing along, for your openness to learning, for putting away your phones (most of the time), for asking questions when you did not understand, for the quizzical looks when you were thinking particularly hard about something.

And I want to ask that you take your words seriously. How you talk to yourself and others makes a difference in the quality of the world. I know that sounds odd and typically weird coming from me, but your words may just be the most important tool you use as you imagine your way into the rest of your life. They give the first form to what is possible; you have to be able to say something before you can reach for it. I want you to say to yourself the deepest desire of what you want to do with your life, to say it without fear that you won't attain it, without belief that you are not worthy of it.

In other words, dream big and then plot your path with your words, thoughts, and actions. With those three things, you can do whatever you want. And you might just love doing what you do. That's very important, that love thing. Words infused with love are unstoppable. That's a secret that doesn't get shared very much.

So thank you for your time, patience, and, above all, willingness to suspend the familiar to consider something never before created: the surprise of finding out more about yourself than you knew before.

Good work.

Keep it up,

E.Toso